PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 


in 


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PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM  ' 


A  COMPLETE  MANUAL 
OF  THE  BEST  NEWSPAPER  METHODS 


BY 

EDWIN    L.    SHUMAN 

AUTHOR   OF    STEPS   INTO     JOURNALISM 


NEW   YORK    AND    LONDON 

D.  APPLETON   AND   COMPANY 
1910 


COPYRIGHT,  1903 
BY  D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 


: 


Published  September,  1903 


«•*••*'•• 

••.- 


TO 

MY    WIFE, 

WHOSE     STEADFAST     FAITH 
AND    LOVING    COOPERATION 

HAVE     BEEN     THE     INSPIRATION 
OF    THESE    PAGES. 


, 


r 


PREFACE 


THERE  are  few  things  concerning  which  the  gen- 
eral public  is  more  curious,  and  about  which  it  knows 
less,  than  the  inside  of  a  metropolitan  newspaper  of- 
fice. This  curiosity  is  at  least  as  healthy  and  legiti- 
mate as  that  regarding  the  north  pole,  yet  there  have 
been  many  more  polar  expeditions  than  books  about 
the  inner  workings  of  the  modern  newspaper.  As  one- 
half  of  all  intelligent  young  men  and  women  in  the 
United  States  are  said  to  pass  through  a  period  when 
they  imagine  they  would  like  to  wield  the  pen,  it 
ought  to  be  an  act  of  humanity  to  place  in  their  hands 
a  book  that  will  tell  just  how  the  work  of  the  best  and 
largest  daily  papers  is  done. 

It  is  strange  that  the  American  newspaper  should 
have  reached  its  present  stage  of  maturity  and  national 
importance  without  having  inspired  a  complete  popu- 
lar manual  of  journalistic  methods.  There  are  many 
brief  treatises  of  practical  value  on  the  more  obvious 
features  of  newspaper  work,  but  hitherto  no  attempt 
has  been  made  to  present  a  detailed  practical  analysis 
of  all  the  writing  departments  of  a  progressive  city 
daily.  The  present  volume  aspires,  in  spite  qf  its 

vii 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

inevitable  imperfections,  to  fill  the  vacant  place.  The 
aim  has  been  to  meet  the  needs  both  of  those  who 
seek  to  enter  journalism  and  of  those  who  have 
already  embarked  on  a  newspaper  career.  The  book 
is  also  intended  as  an  aid  to  students  in  certain  col- 
legiate courses  and  in  schools  of  journalism. 

The  contents  embody  the  observations  of  twenty 
years  spent  in  more  or  less  close  connection  with  jour- 
nalistic work,  ranging  from  the  onerous  responsibil- 
ities of  a  printer's  devil  to  the  honorable  labors  of  an 
editorial  position,  with  the  usual  intervening  steps  as 
typesetter,  proof-reader,  college  journalist,  editor  of  a 
country  weekly,  correspondent  of  a  large  city  paper, 
and  then  a  decade  on  various  Chicago  dailies  in  the 
capacity  of  reporter,  copy  reader,  telegraph  editor, 
exchange  reader,  book  reviewer,  and  editorial  writer. 
It  is  impossible  for  such  an  old-timer  to  paint  rainbow 
visions  of  the  glory  and  power  that  await  the  youth 
who  is  about  to  make  journalism  his  profession.  The 
view  presented  in  this  volume  is  of  the  plain  and  mat- 
ter-of-fact kind,  inspiring  no  roseate  dreams  to  be  dis- 
pelled, yet  trying  to  make  note  of  the  true  inspiration 
that  still  quickens  the  pulse  of  the  hurrying  reporter 
and  of  the  pale  copy  reader  under  his  midnight  elec- 
tric bulb.  If  the  newspaper  employee  of  to-day  can 
not  be  much  of  a  molder  of  public  opinion,  he  can  at 
least  have  the  inspiration  of  realizing  that  he  is  a  part 
of  the  greatest  machine  for  photographing  contem- 
porary human  life  ever  known  in  the  world's  history. 

This  book  is  in  a  sense  the  sequel  of  a  more  ele- 

yiii 


PREFACE 

mentary  treatise  published  eight  years  ago  under  the 
title,  Steps  into  Journalism,  and  now  out  of  print.  In 
a  few  cases  I  have  drawn  upon  the  earlier  work  for 
materials,  though  the  language  and  treatment  are  en- 
tirely changed.  The  former  book  was  for  beginners 
alone.  The  present  volume,  it  is  hoped,  will  be  of 
value  to  practical  newspaper  men  of  some  experience 
as  well  as  to  those  who  still  stand  on  the  threshold. 
Certain  chapters,  such  as  those  on  libel,  copyright, 
errors,  etc.,  should  be  useful  even  to  veteran  editors, 
while  those  on  the  methods  of  reporting  will  be  of 
value  chiefly  to  beginners.  No  attempt  has  been  made 
to  deal  in  detail  with  the  business  or  mechanical  de- 
partments, except  incidentally  in  the  chapters  relating 
to  country  papers. 

The  expedient  of  sketching  the  imaginary  experi- 
ences of  a  typical  reporter  has  been  adopted  as  the 
most  graphic  and  interesting  for  the  city-room  phase 
of  the  subject.  The  historical  retrospect  in  the  first 
chapter  is  deemed  essential  to  an  adequate  compre- 
hension of  the  twentieth  century  newspaper.  The 
complicated  organization  of  the  metropolitan  estab- 
lishment, described  in  the  second  and  succeeding 
chapters,  must  be  understood,  even  by  the  outside 
contributor,  before  he  can  use  his  powers  as  a  press 
writer  to  any  advantage. 

For  models  I  have  taken  only  the  best  papers,  de- 
scribing the  methods  in  use  to-day  on  the  great  dailies 
that  command  the  respect  and  patronage  of  the  in- 
telligent men  and  women  of  their  communities.  No 

ix 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

attempt  has  been  made  to  disguise  the  fact  that  all  our 
large  newspapers  are  necessarily  dominated  by  the 
commercial  spirit,  with  whatever  of  good  or  bad  this 
may  imply.  It  is  not  inspiring  to  the  would-be  editor 
to  learn  that  he  must  measure  his  ideas  by  a  standard 
of  popularity  before  he  will  be  allowed  to  print  them 
in  a  prosperous  journal,  but  the  fact  may  as  well  be 
accepted  in  the  beginning.  Though  the  modern  news- 
paper is  run  for  dividends  rather  than  for  ideas,  it 
surely  needs  no  elaborate  demonstration  to  prove  that 
it  continues  to  be  a  powerful  instrument  for  good. 
It  offers  a  wide  and  honorable  field  for  the  labor  of 
high-minded  young  men  and  women,  and  they  will  be 
able  to  do  the  more  good  if  they  understand  before- 
hand that  preaching  and  propagandism  are  not  among 
the  forms  which  a  newspaper  writer's  activities  may 
take.  If  this  be  a  disappointment  to  aggressive  re- 
formers, it  surely  must  be  compensated  for  in  some 
degree  by  the  fact  that  the  American  newspaper  press, 
as  a  whole,  is  clean-minded  and  incorruptible. 

George  W.  Smalley  has  aptly  said  that  it  is  a  sol- 
emn thing  for  a  man  to  make  a  choice  of  a  career — 
to  resolve  that,  with  the  whole  ocean  of  life  before 
him,  he  will  sail  on  this  or  that  sea,  steer  for  some 
fixed  point,  take  the  chances  of  sunshine  or  storm, 
and  accept  whatever  may  betide  him  should  he  reach 
the  port  he  wishes.  It  is  not  a  light  thing  to  advise 
a  young  man,  for  there  is  a  chance — a  remote  chance 
— that  he  may  act  upon  the  advice.  In  these  pages 
no  attempt  is  made  to  counsel  the  reader  for  or 


PREFACE 

against  the  adoption  of  a  journalistic  career.  Each 
must  decide  that  question  according  to  his  own  tastes 
and  circumstances. 

The  utmost  of  my  desire  in  this  direction  is  to  pre- 
sent the  facts  so  clearly  that  they  will  aid  in  the  deci- 
sion. One  of  the  most  important  of  these  facts  is  that 
executive  ability  will  carry  a  man  higher  than  literary 
ability  in  the  newspaper  world.  The  greatest  re- 
wards no  longer  fall  to  the  powerful  editorial  writer, 
but  to  the  business-like  managing  editor,  who  rarely 
writes  a  line  in  the  paper.  Yet  the  rewards  of  the 
right  kind  of  literary  ability  are  by  no  means  insig- 
nificant. 

I  have  insisted  throughout  upon  the  desirability 
of  beginning  at  the  bottom,  preferably  on  a  country 
paper,  and  working  up  through  all  the  degrees  of 
apprenticeship.  The  untrained  candidate  has  no  more 
right  on  the  staff  'of  a  large  daily  newspaper  than  on 
the  faculty  of  a  college,  yet  the  number  of  such  appli- 
cants is  legion,  as  every  managing  editor  will  attest 
with  fervor.  Where  there  are  words  of  enthusiasm  in 
this  book  they  are  meant  only  for  those  who  are  will- 
ing to  go  through  the  labor  of  preparation — who  have 
made  up  their  minds  that  they  would  rather  be  news- 
paper writers  than  anything  else,  and  would  rather 
look  forward  to  owning  and  running  a  newspaper 
some  day  than  to  standing  at  the  head  of  a  bank  or  a 
department  store.  To  these,  and  to  those  others  who 
are  already  part  way  up  the  journalistic  ladder,  I  have 
sought  to  make  plain  the  full  scope  of  the  American 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

press  and  the  best  methods  for  attaining  success  in 
the  various  departments. 

The  sources  from  .which  I  have  drawn  materials 
are  partly  indicated  in  the  list  of  books  given  at  the 
end  of  this  volume,  but  to  a  still  larger  extent  I  have 
been  indebted  to  scores  of  magazine  articles,  for 
which  I  have  ransacked  the  files  of  all  the  leading 
periodicals  for  the  last  dozen  years.  A  large  portion 
of  the  volume,  of  course,  is  drawn  from  the  writer's 
personal  experience.  For  helpful  suggestions  upon 
the  chapter  on  libels  I  wish  to  thank  Mr.  George  P. 
Merrick,  of  Chicago.  For  the  materials  of  the  chap- 
ter on  newspaper  art  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  William 
Schmedtgen,  head  of  the  art  department  of  the  Chi- 
cago Record-Herald.  One  of  the  chapters  on  adver- 
tising was  written  by  Mr.  R.  Roy  Shuman,  as  noted 
under  the  chapter  heading.  To  these  and  many  other 
friends  I  wish  to  express  my  gratitude  for  assistance 
rendered.  No  effort  has  been  spared  to  make  the 

information  in  each  department  accurate  and  practical. 

/ 

E.  L.  S. 
EVANSTON,  ILL. 


Xll 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.— EVOLUTION  OF  THE  PRESS i 

Birth  of  the  new  journalism — Early  papers  not  devoted 
to  news — James  Gordon  Bennett's  innovation — Press 
methods  revolutionized  by  the  civil  war — Effects  of  tele- 
graph, railroads,  and  cylinder  press — Wonderful  work 
of  the  perfecting  press — Importance  of  wood-pulp  pa- 
per— Coming  of  the  typesetting  machine — The  whole 
world  the  newspaper's  field. 

II.— POSITIONS  AND  SALARIES 16 

Newspaper  a  business  enterprise — Three  classes  of  ed- 
itors— Duties  of  editor-in-chief,  managing  editor,  city 
and  news  editors,  night  editor — Reporters  and  copy 
readers — The  whole  force  at  work — Business  depart- 
ment— Latest  newspaper  statistics — Journalism  a  busi- 
ness for  young  men — Average  incomes  of  reporters  and 
various  editors — Pleasant  and  unpleasant  features  of 
the  profession. 

III.-— How  A  REPORTER  is  EDUCATED        ...     30 

Best  place  to  begin  is  on  a  small  local  paper — How  a 
successful  Kansas  editor  worked  up — Early  mistakes 
and  their  lesson — Getting  the  railroad  news — Doing  the 
courts — Peculiarities  of  the  political  field — Becoming  a 
correspondent  for  outside  papers — Promoted  to  a  daily 
— Becoming  an  independent  space  writer — Sent  to  Cuba 
by  a  Chicago  paper — Called  to  New  York. 

xiii 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

IV.— THE  REPORTER  AT  WORK 45 

Autocratic  powers  of  the  city  editor— Reporter's  dread 
of  failure — Importance  of  condensation — The  art  of  in- 
terviewing— Writing  by  dictation — Reporting  a  great 
accident — How  newspapers  hear  of  things — The  assign- 
ment book — Work  done  at  high  pressure — Reporting  a 
midnight  fire — An  infinite  variety  of  duties. 

V.— PLAN  OF  A  NEWS  STORY 59 

Begin  with  the  most  important  fact — Give  the  gist  of 
the  story  in  the  first  paragraph — Imperative  need  of 
following  this  method — How  to  prepare  copy — Use 
of  pencil  permissible — Importance  of  legibility — How 
to  paragraph  matter — Various  technical  marks — Some 
points  of  style — Uselessness  of  fine  writing — The  re- 
porter's decalogue. 

VI.— How  THE  NEWS  is  GATHERED  .       .       .       .      73 

Origin  of  the  Associated  Press — Its  methods  of  collec- 
tion— Elaborate  system  of  distribution  by  wire — Thirty- 
five  columns  of  matter  sent  daily — Connection  with  for- 
eign news  agencies — Sending  a  telegraphic  "query" — 
Classes  of  news  that  are  not  wanted — Happenings  that 
are  legitimate  news — Becoming  a  correspondent  of  a 
large  paper — How  to  write  a  telegraphic  news  story — 
Importance  of  promptness  and  right  arrangement  of 
matter. 

VII.— EDITORS  AND  THEIR  METHODS  ....      89 

Function  of  the  copy  reader — Art  of  writing  head-lines 
— Desk  work  a  stepping-stone  to  executive  positions — 
Status  of  the  editorial  writer — How  editorials  are  writ- 
ten— A  natural  interest  in  politics  desirable — The  book 
reviewer  and  the  dramatic  critic — Essentials  of  a  good 
book  review — How  positions  as  critics  are  secured — 
Exchange  editor,  sporting  editor,  financial,  real  estate, 
and  other  department  editors — Washington  and  Lon- 
don correspondents — The  journalistic  imagination. 

xiv 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

VIII.— QUALIFICATIONS  FOR  JOURNALISM  .       .       .105 

Different  faculties  needed  for  different  departments — 
Mental  alertness  essential  to  success — Cheery  optimism 
desirable — Executive  ability  receives  the  highest  re- 
ward— Knowledge  of  human  nature  required — College 
education  valuable,  but  not  necessary — Drill  needed  to 
perfect  the  art  of  expression — Shorthand  not  essential 
— Use  of  typewriter  should  be  learned — Much  copy 
written  by  dictation. 

IX.— THE  SUNDAY  SUPPLEMENT       .       .       .       .120 

How  the  Sunday  editor  works — Character  of  Sunday 
specials — Examples  of  subjects  treated — How  to  get  an 
article  into  the  paper — Illustrations  a  great  help — Pho- 
tographs in  demand — Serious  essays  not  salable — Mat- 
ter about  well-known  people  desired — Tales  of  fiction 
and  literary  syndicates — Poetry  in  very  slight  demand 
— Good  market  for  jokes — Long  apprenticeship  neces- 
sary for  complete  success. 

X.— IN  THE  ARTIST'S  ROOM 139 

Preliminary  training  necessary  to  secure  a  position — 
Hungry  interval  between  art  school  and  steady  work 
— Suggestions  for  bridging  the  chasm — Necessary  to 
see  the  news  end  of  a  picture — Study  good  newspaper 
cuts — More  good  positions  than  good  men — Creative 
originality  pays  best — Highest  place  that  of  the  car- 
toonist— Brisk  demand  for  expert  photographers — Art- 
ist's career  preferable  to  that  of  reporter. 

XL— WOMEN  IN  NEWSPAPER  WORK.       .       .       .147 

Journalism  offers  only  a  few  positions  to  women — Na- 
ture of  their  work — Specialist  has  best  chance — Lack 
of  business  knowledge  a  handicap — Yellow  journalism 
a  hard  taskmaster — Work  injures  womanly  qualities — 
How  to  secure  a  position — Literary  work  offers  a 
smoother  pathway  than  reporting — Newspaper  staff  not 

XV 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

CHAPTER 

the  place  for  a  reformer — Pointed  advice  from  a  New 
York  newspaper  woman — Work  judged  by  same  stand- 
ards as  man's  work — Patient  practise  in  obscurity  the 
only  passport  to  success. 

XII.— A  CHAPTER  ON  ERRORS    . 

Infinite  possibilities  of  mistakes — Importance  of  learn- 
ing to  spell  and  punctuate — Punctuation  marks  ex- 
plained— Some  grammatical  pitfalls — How  errors  of 
fact  occur — Learning  the  right  use  of  words — Typo- 
graphical errors — Bryant's  index  expurgatorius — Later 
list  of  the  same  kind — Western  paper's  good  rules — Im- 
portance of  condensation. 

XIII.— WRITING  ADVERTISEMENTS       . 

Ad  writing  a  distinct  vocation — Experts  command  high 
salaries — Genesis  of  big  department  store  ads — How 
they  are  written — Advertisements  simply  business  news 
— Should  be  plain  and  simple — Must  appeal  to  reader's 
self-interest — Deception  never  pays — Qualifications  for 
ad  writing — Work  more  remunerative  than  reporting — 
Some  women  successful  in  it — It  is  a  growing  profes- 
sion. 

XIV.— FILLING  THE  "  AD  "  COLUMNS  . 

Importance  of  getting  a  right  start — Plan  for  getting 
support  of  leading  merchants — Aim  should  be  to  make 
money  for  the  advertisers — Keep  ahead  of  the  seasons 
— Urge  merchants  to  offer  real  bargains — Encourage 
special  sales — Frown  upon  the  bombastic  advertiser — 
Heart-to-heart  style  the  best — Give  preference  to  local 
advertisers — Make  special  efforts  for  classified  ads — 
Bar  out  unsightly  electros — Subscribe  for  a  good  ad- 
vertising magazine. 

XV.— EDITING  A  COUNTRY  PAPER     . 

New  forces  transforming  rural  journalism — Local  news 
the  mainstay  of  the  country  journal — Farming  commu- 

xvi 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

nity  the  most  reliable—Best  system  for  gathering  news 
— Instructions  for  local  and  special  correspondents — 
Need  of  the  blue  pencil — Methods  of  securing  subscri- 
bers— Teaching  merchants  how  to  advertise — Matters  of 
typographical  make-up — When  to  change  a  weekly  into 
a  daily — Where  to  draw  the  line  against  insignificant 
items — Violent  partizanship  unprofitable — Seeking  a 
position  on  a  metropolitan  daily. 

XVI.— THE  LAW  OF  LIBEL 224 

Libel  defined  as  malicious  defamation — All  charges  of 
crime  are  actionable — Truth  of  an  accusation  usually  a 
full  defense — Libelous  nature  of  a  statement  depends 
upon  how  the  ordinary  reader  understands  the  words — 
Law  of  privileged  publications — How  far  an  editor  may 
go  in  criticizing  a  candidate  for  public  office — The 
word  "alleged"  of  no  avail — Reporting  judicial  pro- 
ceedings— Contempt  of  court — Danger  in  head-lines — 
Book  reviews  and  other  privileged  publications — Dan- 
ger of  libels  in  ads — Maximum  penalty  for  criminal 
libel  a  year's  imprisonment — Average  cost  of  defending 
a  civil  suit,  $500. 

XVII.— THE  LAW  OF  COPYRIGHT       ....    244 

Common  law  right  in  intellectual  property — Copyright 
necessary  upon  publication — When  copyright  is  for- 
feited— Formalities  of  securing  a  copyright — Protection 
good  for  twenty-eight  years — May  be  renewed  for  four- 
teen years — Infringement  does  not  depend  on  amount 
of  matter  taken — Depends  on  whether  a  substantial 
part  has  been  copied — Book  reviewers  allowed  to  quote 
liberally — Extracts  that  form  a  substitute  for  the  origi- 
nal are  piracy — Law  offers  three  forms  of  redress. 

XVIII.— EPILOGUE 253 

INDEX 257 


xvn 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 


Reporters  and  copy  readers  in  the  City  Room     Frontispiece 

Double  Sextuple  Newspaper  Perfecting  Press  I2 

Setting  type  by  machinery  on  a  large  daily     .  Ioo 

At  work  in  the  Mailing  Room    .        .  Ig6 


XIX 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  PRESS 

THERE  are  few  more  interesting  chapters  in  the 
history  of  human  freedom  than  the  story  of  the  evo- 
lution of  the  modern  American  newspaper.  It  is  a 
story  of  heroic  endeavor,  of  individual  self-denial,  of 
slow  progress  through  an  infinitude  of  errors  and  gro- 
pings  and  findings,  and  of  final  triumph  through  the 
aid  of  marvelous  mechanical  ingenuity.  Only  when 
free  thought  went  into  partnership  with  steam  and 
electricity  did  the  modern  newspaper  become  possible. 
It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  the  United  States 
surpasses  all  other  lands  in  the  number,  the  excel- 
lence, the  influence,  and  the  prosperity  of  its  news- 
papers. 

Thomas  Jefferson  once  said  that  he  would  rather 
live  in  a  country  with  newspapers  and  no  laws,  than  in 
a  country  with  laws  and  no  newspapers.  Though  the 
American  press  was  still  in  its  infancy,  he  recognized 
its  paramount  importance  in  a  republic  such  as  he  was 
helping  to  found.  That  republic  has  since  spread  be- 
yond Jefferson's  wildest  dreams  in  size  and  power,  a 
thing  it  never  could  have  done  without  the  newspaper 
and  the  forces  that  work  through  the  newspaper. 
Unity  of  thought  alone  can  hold  together  such  a 
mighty  empire  with  so  mild  and  beneficent  a  form  of 
government  as  ours.  Without  the  telegraph,  the  press, 

I 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

and  the  railway  the  United  States  could  not  long  exist 
If  we  are  not  a  nation  governed  by  newspapers,  we  are 
at  least  a  nation  held  together  by  the  cohesive  power 
of  printers'  ink. 

Yet  the  great  modern  daily  as  we  now  know  it, 
recording  each  day  the  happenings  of  the  whole  civi- 
lized world,  is  a  thing  of  such  recent  and  rapid  growth 
that  its  beginnings  can  be  remembered  by  persons  still 
in  the  prime  of  life.  One  might  almost  name  the  day 
on  which  the  new  and  greater  journalism  was  born. 
It  was  the  day  that  saw  Fort  Sumter  fired  upon.  The 
civil  war  made  the  Americans  a  nation  of  newspaper 
readers.  The  people's  eagerness  to  get  tidings  of 
loved  ones  in  camp  and  on  the  battle-field  brought  to 
the  newspapers  a  circulation  undreamed  of  before,  and 
they  began  to^  fill  a  place  as  news  purveyors  unknown 
previously  in  the  history  of  human  evolution.  That 
place  they  have  never  since  relinquished.  Each  year 
has  brought  a  further  expansion  of  their  empire  and 
of  their  hold  upon  the  interest  and  respect  of  the  peo- 
ple. Since  the  moment  when  this  new  era  began, 
there  never  has  been  a  time  when  mechanical  inven- 
tion failed  to  keep  pace  with  the  increasing  demands 
of  practical  journalism.  The  conditions  were  unique 
and  they  created  a  unique  kind  of  newspaper.  Our 
journals  are  distinctively  American.  They  have  bor- 
rowed little  from  Europe,  and  they  fulfil  a  different 
function  from  that  of  the  press  in  monarchical  coun- 
tries. They  voice  the  thought  of  the  people  rather 
than  that  of  politicians  or  rulers.  The  periodical  press 
is  one  of  the  most  vital  of  our  institutions. 

To  see  how  far  the  science  of  newspaper  making 
has  progressed  in  the  last  generation  it  is  necessary 
only  to  take  a  swift  glance  at  the  earlier  American 
journalism,  before  it  had  blazed  its  own  paths  and 

2 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   PRESS 

reached  a  goal  so  different  from  that  of  the  European 
press.  In  reading  the  comparatively  humble  story  of 
the  first  century  and  a  half  of  American  journalism 
it  should  never  be  forgotten  that  much  that  seems  sor- 
did and  violent  was  a  necessary  part  of  the  work  of 
evolution.  The  young  nation  was  crude,  and  its  jour- 
nalism was  crude,  but  its  very  errors  and  excesses 
sprang  from  an  intense  love  of  individual  and  national 
freedom.  Carlyle  once  admitted  that  even  the  wisest 
emperor  could  not  guide  America  in  its  great  task  of 
fitting  a  continent  for  human  habitation  so  fast  and 
well  as  "  America  itself,  with  its  very  anarchies,  gas- 
conadings,  vulgarities,  stupidities."  Carlyle  never  was 
a  fair  judge  of  republican  institutions,  but  he  was 
willing  to  admit  that  "  anarchies,  too,  have  their  uses 
and  are  appointed  with  cause."  It  was  so  with  the 
American  newspapers,  which  De  Tocqueville,  when  he 
visited  this  country  in  1831,  found  full  of  "  open  and 
gross  appeals  to  the  passions  of  their  readers  ...  a 
deplorable  abuse  .of  the  powers  of  thought."  Amer- 
ican journalism  had  not  yet  found  itself,  but  it  was 
even  then  on  the  threshold  of  the  formative  era  which 
was  to  prepare  it  for  the  sudden  and  splendid  outburst 
at  the  nation's  call  after  the  fall  of  Sumter. 

Journalism  began  in  Europe  about  the  time  when 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers  were  sailing  for  America.  In  1639 
the  pioneer  printing-press  in  this  country  was  brought 
to  Massachusetts  Bay  colony  from  England,  but  for 
a  long  time  it  was  not  allowable  to  print  the  news 
or  even  the  laws,  and  the  burning  of  offending  books 
by  the  common  hangman  was  a  frequent  occurrence. 
It  is  not  strange  that  there  was  no  trace  of  an  attempt 
at  journalism  in  America  until  1690,  when  an  adven- 
turous citizen  of  Boston  printed  the  country's  first 
newspaper  and  was  promptly  forbidden  by  the  colo- 

3 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

nial  authorities  to  issue  a  second  number.  This  pio- 
neer editor  was  Benjamin  Harris,  and  his  paper  was 
called  Publick  Occurrences.  It  was  a  little  sheet  of 
three  printed  pages,  two  columns  to  a  page.  It  was 
announced  to  appear  "  once  a  moneth,"  but  the  public 
licensers  decided  that  such  an  enterprise  was  contrary 
to  the  law  and  to  the  best  interests  of  society. 

Nineteen  years  earlier  Sir  William  Berkeley,  of 
Virginia,  had  thanked  God  that  there  was  no  free 
school  and  no  printing-press  in  his  colony,  adding  the 
pious  hope  that  there  might  be  none  for  the  next  hun- 
dred years.  His  prayer  was  not  quite  realized,  but  it 
was  more  nearly  so  in  Virginia  than  in  some  of  the 
other  colonies. 

Not  until  1704  did  a  newspaper  become  established 
in  the  New  World.  It  was  called  the  Boston  News 
Letter,  and  was  in  the  form  of  a  half  sheet,  about  12 
inches  by  8,  printed  in  two  columns.  The  printer 
was  Bartholomew  Green,  and  the  proprietor  was  John 
Campbell,  a  Scotchman  and  the  postmaster  of  Bos- 
ton. This  little  pioneer  paper  appeared  weekly  for 
nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century.  It  ceased  to  exist 
during  the  troubles  of  1776.  In  the  meantime  another 
paper  had  been  started  in  Boston  in  1719,  followed 
almost  immediately  by  one  in  Philadelphia,  and  by 
one  in  New  York  in  1725.  It  required  nearly  thirty 
years  to  increase  these  four  papers  to  nine.  In  1776 
the  number  was  thirty-seven,  including  one  semi- 
weekly.  The  revolution  was  fought  and  independence 
won  without  a  single  daily  newspaper.  The  first  daily 
in  America  was  established  in  Philadelphia  in  1784. 
At  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century  there  were 
two  hundred  newspapers  in  the  United  States,  with 
daily  editions  in  only  four  or  five  cities.  After  another 
decade  the  number  had  increased  to  three  hundred 


EVOLUTION    OF   THE   PRESS 


and  sixty,  of  which  more  than  twenty  were  dailies. 
By  1830  the  number  was  one  thousand,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  there  were  as  yet  no  railroads  and  no 
power  presses.  It  is  interesting  to  note  how  the 
railroads  and  the  newspapers  kept  pace  with  each 
other  in  the  successive  decades : 


YEAR. 

Miles  of  railroad. 

Number  of  periodicals. 

1  840  

4..OOO 

1,631 

1850  

IO,OOO 

2,800 

1870  

5O,OOO 

5,871 

1880  

9O,OOO 

11,314 

1890  

l6o,OOO 

16,048 

I  gOO  

IQO.OOO 

21,272 

At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  there 
was  one  newspaper  for  every  26,450  inhabitants ;  at  its 
close  there  was  one  for  every  3,600  inhabitants.  On  the 
basis  of  copies  issued  the  contrast  is  still  more  stri- 
king. Our  population  increased  fifteenfold  during  the 
century,  while  the  newspapers  increased  a  hundred- 
fold, but  the  number  of  copies  issued  daily  has  in- 
creased many  thousandfold.  There  are  more  than 
8,000,000,000  copies  of  newspapers  and  other  period- 
icals issued  each  year,  making  about  108  copies  for 
every  inhabitant. 

The  first  American  papers  were  chiefly  reprints  of 
English  papers.  Local  news  was  confined  largely  to 
time-tables  of  coach-lines  and  the  movements  of  sail- 
ing vessels.  Foreign  news  consisted  entirely  of  mat- 
ter reprinted  from  the  London  journals,  which  were 
months  old  when  received.  The  editor  of  the  Boston 
News  Letter  once  naively  expressed  regret  that  he 
was  "  thirteen  months  behind  in  giving  the  news  from 
Europe."  Postmasters  were  the  first  editors,  for  their 
offices  were  the  centers  of  news.  They  printed  their 

5 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

papers  by  hand  on  wooden  presses  whose  capacity 
was  severely  taxed  by  a  circulation  of  400  or  500. 
There  was  little  freedom  of  the  press.  Newspapers 
were  tolerated  so  long  as  they  gave  no  offense  to  the 
colonial  authorities,  otherwise  they  were  summarily 
suppressed,  as  they  still  are  in  Germany  and  other 
countries  of  continental  Europe. 

Most  of  the  early  journals  were  not  newspapers  so 
much  as  they  were  vehicles  for  publishing  moral  or 
political  essays.  Editors  were  in  no  hurry  about  print- 
ing the  news.  The  Declaration  of  Independence, 
adopted  by  Congress  at  Philadelphia  July  4th,  was  not 
published  in  the  chief  paper  of  the  town  until  the 
1 3th,  and  did  not  appear  in  a  Boston  paper  until  the 
22d.  Preference  was  given  to  controversial  matter. 
A  communication  from  a  man  of  national  reputation 
was  considered  far  more  important  than  any  amount 
of  news.  The  newspapers  of  the  Revolutionary  period 
were  chiefly  instruments  for  stirring  the  people  to 
action.  Afterward  they  flourished  as  the  organs  of 
parties  and  politicians,  bringing  about  the  era  of  per- 
sonal journalism  and  of  editors  who  were  greater 
than  their  papers. 

At  no  time  during  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  was  journalism  regarded  as  a  profession  re- 
quiring special  ability  or  preparation.  Even  in  1850 
the  business  of  issuing  a  newspaper  was  looked  upon 
as  an  avocation  rather  than  as  a  vocation,  and  editors 
usually  gained  their  living  by  practising  law  or  medi- 
cine or  by  holding  public  office.  Most  of  them  were 
as  poor  as  poverty  and  had  to  depend  upon  political 
or  private  favors  to  a  humiliating  extent.  Newspaper 
profits  in  those  days  were  derived  chiefly  from  sub- 
scriptions and  job-printing,  with  the  publication  of  the 
delinquent  tax  list  as  an  annual  bonanza.  When  mer- 

6 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   PRESS 

chants  advertised  they  did  it  in  a  spirit  of  benevolence 
that  would  be  galling  to  the  dictatorial  publisher  of 
the  modern  metropolitan  daily.  The  editor  was  ex- 
pected to  be  continually  quarreling  with  other  editors 
and  never  to  permit  himself  to  be  outdone  in  vitupera- 
tion. It  is  no  wonder  that  such  papers  did  not  pay,  or 
that  belated  examples  of  that  style  of  journalism  still 
existing  in  remote  country  districts  do  not  pay  to-day. 

Looking  back  at  that  era,  it  seems  amazing  that 
editors  did  not  make  better  use  of  such  news  facilities 
as  they  had.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
papers  were  expected  to  comment  on  the  news  rather 
than  to  gather  it  for  its  own  sake.  News  of  impor- 
tant happenings  still  spread  through  the  country  by 
means  of  letters,  or  by  word  of  mouth,  through  coach- 
drivers,  travelers,  and  vessel  captains.  Local  news 
was  reported  with  an  editorial  tone,  and  news  of 
the  larger  cities  was  clipped  from  the  columns  of  ex- 
changes. As  late  as  the  Mexican  War  the  movements 
of  armies  and  the  accounts  of  battles  were  still  ob- 
tained from  official  reports  and  private  letters,  though 
there  was  a  swift  pony  express  to  carry  the  war  news 
from  New  Orleans  to  the  terminus  of  the  New  York 
telegraph  line. 

The  first  noteworthy  departure  from  old-time 
methods  was  made  by  the  New  York  Herald,  founded 
by  the  elder  James  Gordon  Bennett  in  1835  on  a  nom- 
inal cash  capital  of  $500.  In  his  first  issue  Mr.  Ben- 
nett announced  that  his  paper  would  be  independent 
and  not  a  party  organ.  From  the  beginning  he 
worked  on  the  theory  that  the  people  wanted  news 
rather  than  views.  He  had  a  positive  genius  for  news- 
gathering  and  grudged  no  expense  in  getting  what  he 
wanted.  When  the  pioneer  ocean  steamer  Sirius 
began  crossing  the  Atlantic  in  1838,  he  seized  the 

7 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

opportunity  and  secured  for  his  paper  the  first  Euro- 
pean news  service.  He  was  the  first  to  use  illustra- 
tions as  a  news  feature.  From  the  beginning  he 
printed  "  money  articles,"  or  reports  of  the  transac- 
tions in  Wall  Street,  the  first  newspaper  reports  of 
this  kind  in  America.  To-day  the  financial  page  is 
one  of  the  most  important  in  every  leading  paper.  At 
the  same  time  Mr.  Bennett's  methods  were  sensational 
and  often  unscrupulous.  He  gave  the  yellow  journals 
of  our  day  most  of  their  points,  but  he  also  blazed  the 
path  which  enterprising  and  progressive  newspapers 
were  to  follow.  His  jealous  contemporaries  had  some 
cause  for  the  vituperation  with  which  they  unanimous- 
ly assailed  him,  but  they  long  overlooked  the  fact  that 
the  Herald  cpntained  the  germ  of  the  greater  jour- 
nalism. From  this  was  gradually  evolved  the  modern 
newspaper — the  journal  devoted  to  a  chronicle  of  the 
world's  happenings  day  by  day. 

In  the  meantime  the  slavery  issue,  Which  shook 
the  nation  for  the  next  quarter  of  a  century,  developed 
American  journalism  along  both  the  new  and  the  old 
lines.  That  was  the  era  of  criticism,  when  a  man 
like  Horace  Greeley  could  make  or  unmake  a  poli- 
tician by  an  editorial  article.  But  the  Bennett  type 
of  journalism  was  gathering  force,  too,  and  less  than 
a  dozen  years  after  the  Herald  was  founded  the 
"  lightning  press "  arrived  and  became  a  powerful 
ally.  Other  editors  followed  reluctantly  and  hesi- 
tatingly, until  the  civil  war  demonstrated  once  for  all 
that  the  chief  function  of  the  newspaper  henceforth 
was  to  print  the  news. 

Up  to  1861  mechanical  invention  had  followed 
editorial  enterprise  with  laggard  steps,  but  from  that 
time  forward  invention  kept  pace  with  all  the  de- 
mands of  circulation.  The  telegraph  suddenly  came 

8 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   PRESS 

into  general  use  for  the  transmission  of  news.  Even 
in  the  crowning  excitement  previous  to  the  war  a 
paper  like  the  New  York  Tribune  under  Horace 
Greeley  had  been  printing  less  than  two  columns  of 
telegraphic  matter  daily.  This  order  of  things  sud- 
denly ceased  forever.  The  war  brought  such  a  tre- 
mendous increase  of  subscriptions  for  all  papers  that 
the  publishers  could  incur  expenditures  which  would 
have  appalled,  if  not  ruined,  them  a  year  before.  Ad- 
vertisers were  prompt  to  see  the  advantage  of  the 
increased  circulation,  and  their  money  became  avail- 
able for  extending  the  news  service  still  farther. 

Reporters  and  artists  were  sent  to  the  front.  The 
correspondents  at  Washington  were  instructed  to  give 
less  space  to  personal  opinions  and  more  to  news. 
The  eager  rivalry  to  be  the  first  to  print  an  important 
piece  of  news,  then  already  strong,  has  grown  more 
intense  in  each  succeeding  decade.  Within  a  year  the 
new  journalism  was  well  advanced  on  its  marvelous 
career  of  development.  The  public  appetite  for  news 
grew  with  what  it  fed  upon.  Journalism  had  become 
a  legitimate  business,  if  not  a  stable  profession.  The 
collection  of  news  was  reduced  to  a  system — almost  to 
an  exact  science — until  to-day  every  event  of  impor- 
tance in  the  world  is  recorded  daily  by  the  press. 

The  story  of  the  mechanical  side  of  the  evolution 
of  the  newspaper  is  fully  as  interesting  as  that  of  the 
intellectual  side.  A  detailed  record  thereof  covering 
the  last  sixty  years  would  be  almost  a  synopsis  of  the 
world's  progress  in  invention.  Though  Gutenberg  had 
discovered  the  art  of  printing  with  movable  types  about 
the  year  1438,  little  had  been  added  to  his  invention 
four  centuries  later.  Each  decade  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  nineteenth  century  brought  more  improvements 
in  printing  than  all  the  previous  centuries  combined. 

9 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

At  the  time  when  the  elder  Bennett  started  his 
paper,  in  1835,  nearly  all  the  newspapers  in  the  coun- 
try still  were  printed  on  hand-presses,  one  side  at  a 
time.  The  Washington  hand-press,  an  improved 
form  of  the  primitive  machine,  still  survives  in  some 
remote  country  districts,  and  there  are  veteran  edi- 
tors who  can  recall  how  they  printed  the  first  editions 
of  papers  now  famous  on  a  lever  press  of  this  kind. 
The  flat  type  form  was  inked  laboriously  each  time 
by  hand.  The  dampened  sheet  of  rag  paper  was  laid 
carefully  upon  the  type,  and  then  with  a  back-break- 
ing pull  on  the  lever  the  impression  was  taken.  With 
the  perspiration  trickling  down  his  brow  the  pioneer 
editor  and  publisher  pulled  out  the  printed  sheet — 
cautiously,  so  as  not  to  tear  it — rolled  his  sleeves  a 
little  higher,  and  went  to  work  on  the  next  copy. 
Each  copy  had  to  go  through  the  press  twice.  Those 
were  the  days  when  the  circulation  of  a  paper  de- 
pended upon  the  number  of  pulls  that  one  pair  of 
arms  could  give  to  a  lever  during  the  few  hours  that 
span  the  life  of  a  news  item ;  500  was  a  large  circula- 
tion, 1,000  enormous,  and  beyond  1,500  an  impossi- 
bility. If  some  prophet  had  told  those  muscular  edi- 
tors that  before  the  end  of  the  century  a  New  York 
paper  would  be  issuing  half  a  million  copies  daily 
he  would  have  been  regarded  as  a  lunatic. 

Newspaper  work  has  been  revolutionized  repeat- 
edly by  new  inventions  in  the  last  two-thirds  of  a  cen- 
tury. The  chief  agencies  that  did  it  were  the  cylinder 
press,  the  railroads  and  telegraph-lines,  the  multiple 
press,  the  stereotyping  process,  the  perfecting  press, 
wood-pulp  paper,  and  the  typesetting  machine.  The 
first  important  advance  came  with  the  ordinary  cyl- 
inder press.  This  was  not  introduced  to  any  extent 
until  1832.  It  is  still  in  use  for  the  printing  of  books 

10 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   PRESS 

and  country  newspapers,  though  in  a  greatly  im- 
proved form.  In  this  the  type  stands  on  a  flat  bed  and 
the  paper  is  printed  by  passing  between  it  and  a  heavy 
roller.  With  steam-power  hitched  to  such  a  press 
the  possibilities  of  journalism  already  were  becoming 
great.  But  the  advent  of  railroads  about  this  time 
increased  the  area  of  circulation  a  thousandfold. 
There  was  need  of  a  swifter  machine,  and  it  came  in 
the  form  of  Hoe's  "  lightning  press  "  in  1846. 

It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  Richard  M.  Hoe 
created  a  new  era  in  journalism  when  he  showed  how 
type  could  be  placed  on  a  revolving  cylinder  so  that 
half  a  dozen  men  could  feed  in  sheets  of  paper  against 
it  at  the  same  time.  With  this  multiple  press  came 
the  possibility  of  addressing  many  thousands,  at  the 
moment  of  their  keenest  interest,  on  the  events  of  the 
hour.  Almost  at  the  same  time  Morse's  electric  tele- 
graph had  come  into  existence.  Before  1844  a  fast 
pony  express  service,  with  relays,  had  carried  the 
news  from  Washington  to  New  York  in  two  days. 
The  first  telegraph-line  to  be  used  for  news  purposes 
was  that  from  Washington  to  Wilmington,  which  re- 
duced the  time  between  Washington  and  New  York 
to  one  day. 

Hoe's  "  lightning  press  "  is  antiquated  now.  Even 
that  machine  could  not  supply  the  millions  of  eager 
readers  in  the  days  of  the  civil  war  and  in  the  era  of  in- 
dustrial and  railway  expansion  that  followed.  Under 
this  enormous  stimulus  the  mechanical  experts  be- 
thought themselves  of  the  stereotyping  process,  which 
had  been  discovered  many  years  before  but  never 
put  into  extensive  use.  By  this  process  the  type  page 
is  duplicated  in  solid  metal  within  a  few  minutes,  and 
any  number  of  plates  may  be  made,  so  that  the  same 
matter  can  be  set  to  running  on  a  dozen  or  two  dozen 

II 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

presses  at  the  same  time.  Here,  at  last,  was  the  pos- 
sibility of  supplying  a  circulation  of  a  million  if  neces- 
sary. That  possibility  took  definite  shape  in  Mr. 
Hoe's  wonderful  web-perfecting  press.  The  machine 
was  invented  in  1871,  and  has  been  improved  marvel- 
ously  since  then,  especially  by  the  application  of  the 
multiple  principle,  which  combines  six  or  eight  press- 
es in  one  machine.  In  its  latest  form  this  may  justly 
be  regarded  as  the  greatest  piece  of  machinery  that 
the  ingenuity  of  man  has  created.  The  octuple  press 
devours  the  blank  paper  in  four  continuous  ribbons, 
prints  both  sides,  and  folds,  cuts,  pastes,  and  counts 
out  the  completed  copies  at  the  incredible  rate  of 
96,000  eight-page  papers  an  hour.  It  requires  eight- 
een months  to  build  one  of  these  presses,  and  the  cost 
of  one  machine  exceeds  the  total  value  of  all  the 
newspaper  presses  in  the  United  States  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  nineteenth  century. 

To  keep  pace  with  such  a  press  the  typesetting 
machine  was  sure  to  come.  After  innumerable  ex- 
periments, involving  infinite  toil  and  wasted  fortunes, 
the  chief  prize  finally  fell  to  Ottmar  Mergenthaler's 
linotype,  a  machine  of  amazing  ingenuity.  Instead  of 
setting  type  it  sets  the  molds  for  casting  type,  drop- 
ping them  into  place  as  fast  as  the  operator  touches 
the  keys,  until  the  line  is  completed,  when  the  moving 
of  a  lever  forces  molten  type  metal  against  the  ma- 
trices and  casts  a  solid  line.  The  molds  distribute 
themselves  automatically  and  are  ready  to  be  used 
again  when  the  next  line  is  set.  With  such  a  machine 
one  man  can  do  the  work  of  five  ordinary  printers.  In 
fact,  an  expert  can  do  a  week's  work  in  a  day.  Al- 
ready the  type-case  and  the  hand  compositor  are  be- 
coming things  of  the  past,  like  the  lever-press  and  the 
stage-coach.  Practically  every  large  newspaper  in  the 

12 


en 

in 

w 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   PRESS 

country  now  uses  these  or  similar  machines.  Some 
offices  have  fifty  or  sixty,  representing  a  fortune  in 
themselves ;  but  the  machine  reduces  the  cost  of  com- 
position more  than  one-half,  and  has  brought  profit  to 
the  publishers.  In  1894  only  200  linotypes  were  in 
use.  Now  there  are  more  than  8,000,  and  the  number 
is  growing  steadily.  Apparently  the  machine  is  about 
to  revolutionize  the  country  newspaper  as  it  has  the 
city  press. 

A  remarkable  example  of  how  one  invention  be- 
gets another  is  seen  in  the  revolution  which  has  re- 
duced the  price  of  paper  in  the  last  thirty  years  from 
twenty-four  cents  a  pound  to  two  and  a  quarter  cents 
a  pound.  Few  readers  stop  to  think  that  if  print  paper 
were  still  made  of  rags  the  modern  press  could  not 
exist,  and  we  could  have  no  penny  papers  such  as  we 
have.  There  came  a  time  when  even  the  old  cylinder- 
press  began  eating  up  paper  at  such  a  rate  that  all  the 
rags  in  America  and  Europe  could  not  keep  it  going. 
Paper  became  costly,  and  it  looked  as  if  a  large  part 
of  the  population  would  have  to  go  without  news- 
papers. 

Then  came  the  application  of  the  chemical  pulp 
method  to  wood,  and  the  presses  have  been  devouring 
spruce  forests  at  a  terrific  rate  ever  since.  Now  all 
newspapers  are  printed  on  wood-pulp  paper,  and  that 
is  why  we  can  have  a  daily  paper  for  one  or  two  cents 
and  a  Sunday  paper  weighing  a  pound  for  five  cents. 
The  trees  are  put  through  a  mill  and  ground  into  a 
powder  as  fine  as  flour,  and  this  is  converted  into  a 
pulp  from  which  the  paper  is  made.  The  paper  is 
manufactured  in  a  continuous  ribbon  the  width  of  a 
newspaper,  and  is  wound  around  an  iron  spool.  Each 
spool  holds  from  two  to  four  miles  of  paper,  and  each 
roll  weighs  from  800  to  1,200  pounds.  The  web-press 
3  13 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

feeds  itself  with  this  ribbon,  printing  it  on  both  sides, 
and  making  newspapers  of  it  faster  than  the  quickest 
eye  can  count  them. 

The  present  enormous  extension  of  the  telegraph 
and  cable  lines,  which  we  now  regard  as  a  matter  of 
course,  has  taken  place  wholly  within  the  memory  of 
men  and  women  still  in  the  prime  of  life.  Some  pa- 
pers now  pay  $100,000  annually  in  telegraph  tolls  for 
special  correspondence,  aside  from  the  regular  Asso- 
ciated Press  service.  During  the  first  few  years  after 
the  Atlantic  cable  was  laid  it  was  used  sparingly  be- 
cause of  the  high  tolls.  The  first  decided  movement 
to  use  the  new  device  for  press  purposes  was  during 
the  Franco-Prussian  War.  It  was  the  New  York 
Tribune  that  led  in  the  new  departure  at  that  time 
by  printing  tnany  columns  of  cable  news  sent  by  spe- 
cial correspondents  at  enormous  cost.  Since  then  the 
European  cable  news  has  become  a  regular  feature  of 
all  the  leading  papers.  Though  the  press  rate  has 
reached  the  comparatively  low  figure  of  twelve  cents  a 
word  between  London  and  Chicago,  the  foreign  news 
is  still  one  of  the  most  costly  features  of  the  modern 
newspaper. 

The  press  of  no  other  country  spends  money  so 
lavishly  for  news.  In  no  other  country  is  the  organ- 
ization for  collecting  and  arranging  news  so  thorough 
and  elaborate.  A  search-light  is  ready  to  be  turned  in- 
stantly upon  any  locality  of  the  earth.  No  place  is  so 
inaccessible,  no  peril  so  great,  no  expense  so  heavy 
that  the  press  hesitates  for  a  moment  to  send  its  repre- 
sentative or  expedition  to  the  spot,  if  news  is  to  be 
found  by  so  doing. 

Hiring  special  trains,  stringing  special  telegraph- 
wires,  chartering  ships,  and  sending  a  corps  of  report- 
ers to  the  firing  line  in  a  foreign  war  are  now  ordinary 

14 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   PRESS 

incidents  of  American  journalism.  Readers  in  this 
country  often  get  a  better  report  of  a  great  event  in 
London  or  Paris  than  the  Londoners  and  Parisians 
get.  The  account  of  a  battle  fought  in  China  y  ester- 
day  is  read  this  morning  at  the  New  York  or  San 
Francisco  breakfast  table.  We  know  the  result  of  a 
battle  in  South  Africa  almost  before  the  smoke  has 
cleared  from  the  veldt.  It  is  the  same  with  our  domes- 
tic news.  Telegraph-wires  are  run  from  a  national 
convention  hall  to  every  newspaper.  An  operator  sits 
near  the  chair  of  the  presiding  officer  and  with  a  muf- 
fled key  sends  full  reports  of  the  proceedings,  with  de- 
scriptions of  every  incident  of  note.  At  the  other  end 
of  the  line,  in  each  news  center,  another  operator  sits 
and  takes  the  despatches  from  the  wire  on  a  type- 
writer. After  passing  through  the  hands  of  an  editor 
the  copy  is  rushed  to  the  linotype  man,  and  in  an  in- 
credibly short  time  the  public  is  reading  the  news  in 
the  streets. 

Every  paper  now  puts  page  after  page  of  tele- 
graphic news  into  type  each  day,  while  almost  as 
much  more  is  thrown  away  for  lack  of  space.  The 
watchword  of  the  news  room  is  "  Boil  down !  "  What 
not  to  print  is  the  perennial  problem  of  the  editor's 
life.  Such  a  state  of  affairs  naturally  has  produced 
radical  changes  in  journalistic  methods.  The  long- 
winded  verbatim  reporting  of  Charles  Dickens's  time 
would  be  as  much  out  of  place  in  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury newspaper  as  Tony  Weller's  stage-coach  would 
be  in  a  modern  railway  station.  Journalism  is  a  pro- 
fession requiring  special  training  and  aptitude  as  well 
as  much  hard  work.  It  is  no  small  task  merely  to  get 
a  fair  understanding  of  the  organization  and  methods 
of  a  large  newspaper. 

15 


II 

POSITIONS  AND  SALARIES 

THE  modern  newspaper  is  a  business  enterprise, 
and  the  men  who  run  it  are  animated  by  much  the 
same  motives  as  the  men  who  conduct  a  department 
store.  Before  the  era  of  large  circulations  and  fast 
presses  the  publisher  of  a  newspaper  often  was  in- 
spired by  a  desire  to  inculcate  some  truth  or  to  defend 
a  certain  set  of  political  principles.  To-day  his  para- 
mount object  is  to  make  money,  though  his  devotion 
to  certain  principles  may  still  play  a  large  part  in  sha- 
ping the  policy  of  his  paper. 

Before  Frederick  the  Great  ascended  the  throne  of 
Prussia  he  wrote  a  book  in  enthusiastic  advocacy  of 
universal  peace.  Before  the  book  was  off  the  press 
he  had  become  a  king  and  found  himself  preparing  to 
precipitate  Europe  into  a  war.  Instead  of  ruling  his 
kingdom  he  found  that  his  kingdom  was  ruling  him. 
The  editor  of  the  great  metropolitan  newspaper  is  in 
much  the  same  predicament.  Such  a  paper  scarcely 
can  be  run  on  a  capital  of  less  than  a  million,  while 
the  most  prosperous  ones  are  paying  dividends  on 
from  five  to  fifteen  millions.  With  such  enormous 
interests  at  stake  the  paramount  duty  of  the  head  of 
the  enterprise  is  to  keep  it  from  financial  collapse. 
He  is  only  one  of  many  whose  money  is  invested  in 
the  paper,  hence  he  has  no  right  to  wreck  it  for  the 
sake  of  any  idea,  however  dear  to  him.  Some  editors 

16 


POSITIONS   AND   SALARIES 

are  fortunate  enough  to  be  able  to  make  their  papers 
pay  on  lines  conforming  with  their  own  ideas  in  most 
matters,  but  there  is  none  who  has  not  had  to  suppress 
many  of  his  private  views  in  trying  to  suit  the  public. 
The  people,  by  bestowing  their  patronage  on  this  or 
that  kind  of  paper,  do  more  than  all  the  editors  com- 
bined to  shape  the  policy  of  the  press.  If  a  publisher 
sees  that  a  sensational  style  sells  the  most  papers, 
he  is  strongly  tempted  to  give  the  public  a  "  yellow 
journal,"  just  as  a  merchant  gives  his  customers  calico 
if  they  want  it  instead  of  silk.  The  reporter  must 
hand  the  desired  goods  over  the  counter.  He  must 
write  the  World  or  Journal  style,  the  Tribune  or 
Herald  style,  the  Sun  or  Post  style,  as  his  position 
requires,  or  go  elsewhere.  So  long  as  he  writes 
matter  conforming  with  the  paper's  policy  he  may 
entertain  whatever  private  views  and  political  prin- 
ciples he  likes. 

There  are  three  classes  of  men  in  every  newspaper 
office — those  who  write,  those  who  edit,  and  those 
who  neither  write  nor  edit,  but  direct.  At  the  head 
of  every  metropolitan  newspaper  is  the  editor-in-chief, 
usually  called  simply  the  editor.  Usually  he  also  is 
the  chief  stockholder  and  publisher,  with  control  over 
the  business  office  as  well  as  over  the  editorial  rooms. 
The  final  responsibility  for  everything  that  appears  in 
the  paper  rests  on  him.  He  has  special  charge  of  the 
editorial  page  and  shapes  the  policy  of  the  paper 
largely  by  means  of  the  editorials  written  under  his 
direction. 

Next  in  authority  under  the  editor  is  the  mana- 
ging editor,  who  is  the  chief  executive  officer  of  the 
establishment.  As  a  rule,  he  is  the  highest  function- 
ary with  whom  the  public  comes  in  contact.  He  sel- 
dom writes  or  edits,  but  directs  the  doing  of  these 

17 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

things.  He  has  supervision  of  the  collection  of  the 
news  and  of  its  preparation  for  publication.  On  his 
shoulders  falls  all  the  responsibility  which  the  chief 
editor  does  not  care  to  assume.  He  must  be  a  man 
of  quick  and  sure  judgment,  of  great  executive  ability, 
and  of  inexhaustible  originality.  One  of  the  most  im- 
portant of  his  duties  is  that  of  constantly  devising  new 
features  and  new  ways  and  means  for  filling  the  pa- 
per's columns. 

Under  the  managing  editor  are  the  city  editor, 
who  collects  the  local  news ;  the  telegraph  or  news 
editor,  who  collects  the  matter  that  comes  by  wire; 
and  the  various  department  editors — dramatic,  liter- 
ary, sporting,  financial,  commercial,  real  estate,  and 
others.  The  city  editor  has  a  corps  of  reporters  under 
his  charge,  and  the  news  editor  has  a  corps  of  corre- 
spondents in  the  various  cities  of  importance.  Each 
of  these  departments  also  has  a  force  of  copy  readers, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  edit  the  matter  written  by  the  re- 
porters and  correspondents.  Only  on  the  largest  pa- 
pers, however,  is  there  a  separate  man  in  charge  of 
collecting  the  telegraphic  news.  The  managing  editor 
or  the  night  editor  in  most  offices  looks  after  this  part 
of  the  work. 

A  few  of  the  editors  on  a  morning  paper  may  do 
their  work  altogether  in  the  daytime,  such  as  the 
editorial  writers,  the  Sunday  editor,  the  exchange 
reader,  and  some  of  the  department  editors.  The 
reporters  are  ready  to  begin  work  about  one  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  and  continue  on  duty  until  some 
time  after  midnight.  Before  evening  they  have  com- 
pleted most  of  their  afternoon  assignments.  At  six 
or  seven  o'clock  a  new  force  of  men  takes  charge 
— the  men  who  edit.  They  are  called  copy  readers, 
and  they  perform  an  important  function  not  usually 

18 


POSITIONS   AND    SALARIES 

realized  by  the  outside  world.  They  begin  at  once 
preparing  the  copy  that  has  been  written  by  the  re- 
porters or  sent  in  by  telegraph  during  the  afternoon. 
Every  newspaper  receives  each  night  from  two  to  five 
times  the  amount  of  matter  it  can  print.  Rarely  is  an 
article  sent  to  the  composing-room  without  condensa- 
tion or  change.  A  large  staff  of  copy  readers  is  neces- 
sary to  cull  out  what  is  printable,  to  avoid  libelous 
matter,  to  write  the  head-lines,  to  condense,  to  verify 
statements.  As  soon  as  each  article  or  portion  thereof 
is  complete  it  is  sent  to  the  composing-room,  and  usu- 
ally in  half  an  hour  the  proof  is  ready. 

The  compositors  begin  work  at  seven  o'clock  as 
a  rule,  and  the  whole  establishment  soon  is  in  full 
blast.  The  building  fairly  throbs  with  activity  until 
three  or  four  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  managing 
editor  often  goes  home  for  several  hours  in  the  early 
part  of  the  evening,  and  the  office  drops  into  a  rou- 
tine. The  night  city  editor  is  in  charge  of  the  collec- 
tion of  local  news  and  the  editing  of  copy  in  his  de- 
partment. On  the  larger  papers  he  has  six  or  eight 
copy  readers  to  assist  him,  while  in  the  telegraph- 
room  the  news  editor  has  a  similar  force.  As  soon  as 
a  reporter  finishes  an  article  it  is  handed  to  the  night 
city  editor,  and  he  checks  it  off  his  assignment  list 
and  either  prepares  it  himself  or  gives  it  to  one  of  his 
assistants. 

The  news  from  the  courts,  the  city  hall,  the  coro- 
ner's office,  and  other  routine  or  department  matters 
usually  are  the  first  to  be  handled.  Two  or  more 
editors  are  at  work  on  the  sporting  news.  Reporters 
continue  to  come  in  from  time  to  time  to  announce 
the  results  of  quests  assigned  to  them  during  the  after- 
noon and  evening.  The  night  city  editor  hears  their 
reports  and  gives  each  a  few  rapid  directions  as  to  the 

19 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

length  or  treatment  of  the  story.  Two  reporters  are 
held  in  reserve  for  emergencies  throughout  the  eve- 
ning. Of  these,  the  short- wait  man  goes  off  duty  at 
midnight  and  the  long-wait  man  remains  until  three 
or  four  in  the  morning.  The  average  reporter  gets 
off  at  any  time  after  midnight  when  his  day's  task 
happens  to  be  completed. 

The  night  city  editor  has  a  difficult  and  responsible 
position.  Though  the  regular  city  editor  has  planned 
the  campaign  for  the  day,  some  of  the  liveliest  and 
most  strenuous  battles  often  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  night 
city  editor.  He  must  be  a  man  of  keen  and  swift 
judgment  and  must  know  how  to  deal  with  emer- 
gencies. When  the  news  comes  of  some  accident, 
defalcation,  or  murder,  or  the  death  of  some  promi- 
nent man,  he  must  not  only  judge  instantly  what  is 
to  be  done,  but  he  must  know  where  to  send  to  get 
the  fullest  information.  It  has  been  said  aptly  that  he 
is  the  one  man  in  the  establishment  who  has  reason  to 
become  excited,  but  he  has  been  trained  to  expect 
the  unexpected,  and  in  ten  minutes  he  usually  has 
his  reporters  out.  It  is  easily  seen  that  the  only 
school  which  can  give  a  man  the  requisite  training 
for  such  a  position  is  that  found  in  years  of  hard 
work  as  a  reporter.  Usually  this  experience  is  fol- 
lowed by  an  interim  in  the  position  of  copy  reader, 
which  is  the  general  stepping  stone  to  all  the  higher 
positions. 

The  night  editor's  task  requires  the  same  swift 
thinking  and  rapid  action  as  that  of  the  night  city  edi- 
tor, and  it  carries  with  it  a  still  heavier  share  of  respon- 
sibility. This  little  known  but  important  functionary 
gives  final  shape  to  the  printed  page,  and  has  the  last 
word  in  regard  to  the  matter  to  be  used.  He  is  next 
in  authority  after  the  managing  editor,  and  he  takes 

20 


POSITIONS   AND   SALARIES 

the  managing  editor's  place  after  the  latter  goes  home 
in  the  small  hours  of  the  morning.  Next  to  the  man- 
aging editor  there  is  no  officer  on  a  metropolitan 
daily  requiring  greater  executive  ability  than  the 
night  editor. 

One  of  the  first  things  the  night  editor  must  do 
each  evening  is  to  get  an  estimate  of  the  space  needed 
for  the  advertisements,  and  then  to  get  an  idea  of  the 
space  each  of  the  most  important  news  stories  will 
fill.  Then  he  allots  the  remaining  space  arid  notifies 
each  department  of  the  limits  thus  set.  An  important 
part  of  his  work  is  to  look  over  the  proofs  of  all  mat- 
ter for  errors.  He  must  go  through  the  editorial 
articles  with  great  care  to  see  that  the  editor  has  not 
said  something  which  is  invalidated  by  the  later 
news.  With  sufficient  cause  he  may  change  any 
article,  or  hold  it  out  till  the  next  issue,  or  kill 
it,  or  place  it  in  a  prominent  or  obscure  position 
in  the  paper,  according  as  his  judgment  dictates. 
Usually  he  also  has  the  responsibilities  of  a  news 
editor  and  answers  the  telegraphic  queries  of  corre- 
spondents. 

About  midnight  the  night  editor  becomes  especial- 
ly busy.  It  is  time  for  him  to  send  the  first  pages  to 
the  stereotyper.  At  the  same  time  he  must  continue 
skimming  with  the  eye  of  a  hawk  through  his  proofs, 
which  keep  raining  down  upon  him.  He  gives  his 
orders  swiftly  to  the  make-up  men  at  the  forms,  tell- 
ing them  what  articles  to  put  in  each  page.  His  posi- 
tion is  one  of  great  responsibility  and  of  delicate  judg- 
ment. It  is  as  precarious  as  it  is  lucrative.  One  of  the 
best  night  editors  of  my  acquaintance  once  happened, 
by  some  unaccountable  slip,  to  print  a  long  obituary 
of  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  several  years  before 
her  death.  She  was  seriously  ill,  and  the  usual  obitu- 

21 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

ary  article  had  been  written  in  advance  and  put  into 
type  for  quick  use  if  needed.  In  some  way  the  article 
got  into  the  forms,  and  the  readers  of  the  first  edition 
of  that  paper  learned  of  the  great  novelist's  death. 
Mrs.  Stowe  did  not  pass  away  at  that  time,  but  the 
night  editor  did.  There  are  other  fatal  opportunities 
always  lying  in  wait  for  the  night  editor.  One  of  his 
last  duties  is  to  decide  what  to  leave  out  for  lack  of 
room,  and  a  dreaded  question  next  day  is,  "  Why  didn't 
we  print  this  story  ? "  Perhaps  his  most  constant 
worry  is  to  get  each  page  to  the  stereotypers  on 
schedule  time.  His  most  deadly  dereliction  is  to  miss 
the  mail. 

Days  in  advance  the  city  editor  has  prepared  for 
the  events  that  are  foreseen.  He  keeps  an  assignment 
book,  in  which  are  entered  all  the  important  happen- 
ings expected  for  weeks  ahead.  His  reporters  are 
deployed  with  the  care  of  a  general.  But  there  are 
always  emergencies  that  can  not  be  foreseen,  and  these 
are  what  throw  the  greatest  strain  on  the  night  men. 
Fire  may  be  sweeping  through  a  block  with  a  heavy 
loss  of  life,  and  there  is  little  time  to  get  a  connected 
story  in  the  first  edition.  The  reporters  ask  a  few 
hurried  questions  as  soon  as  they  arrive  on  the  scene 
and  then  rush  for  the  telephones.  The  story  they  tell 
is  hastily  put  into  writing  in  the  office,  and  often  it 
is  an  exciting  race  to  get  the  news  prepared  before 
the  time  set  for  the  night  editor  to  close  the  forms. 
In  the  telegraph-room  possibly  a  presidential  elec- 
tion or  a  nominating  convention  causes  the  greatest 
strain.  The  telegraph  companies  have  a  way  of  divi- 
ding every  long  article  into  sections,  known  as  A,  B, 
and  so  on.  The  news  editor  frequently  gets  section 
G  before  section  C  has  begun,  and  it  takes  a  cool 
brain  and  a  steady  hand  to  eliminate  objectionable 

22 


POSITIONS   AND    SALARIES 

matter  and  keep  the  words  in  their  proper  order,  at 
the  same  time  maintaining  a  steady  rate  in  sending 
matter  to  the  composing-room. 

Ordinarily  there  is  no  more  confusion  or  feverish 
haste  in  a  metropolitan  newspaper  office  than  in  the 
daily  conduct  of  a  railroad  plant.  Everything  is  done 
by  system.  Emergencies  are  what  are  expected  most, 
and  that  paper  is  the  best  equipped  which  grapples 
with  them  without  undue  excitement.  It  is  clear  that 
the  most  difficult  positions  in  such  an  establishment 
are  those  of  an  executive  nature.  The  qualities  of  the 
general  rather  than  those  of  the  literary  man  are  what 
count  for  most  and  bring  the  highest  pay  in  jour- 
nalism. 

The  publisher,  who  stands  at  the  head  of  this  edi- 
torial machine,  also  controls  the  business  office.  He 
appoints  a  business  manager,  whose  duty  it  is  to  reap 
where  the  editors  have  sown,  and  to  push  the  business 
of  the  paper  in  all  directions.  The  work  is  divided 
into  departments  here  also,  and  a  separate  book  might 
be  written  about  the  organization  and  methods  of  the 
business  half  of  the  modern  newspaper  office.  There 
are  the  counting-room,  the  advertising  department, 
and  the  circulating  department,  each  with  its  respon- 
sible head  and  its  subdivisions.  The  advertising  office 
has  its  advertising  manager,  solicitors,  and  clerks. 
The  circulating  department  has  its  city  and  country 
circulation  managers,  who  push  the  sale  of  the  paper 
by  all  the  arts  and  allurements  known  to  modern 
newspaper  enterprise. 

Between  the  editorial  and  the  business  branches  of 
the  concern  stand  the  mechanical  departments.  There 
is  the  delivery  department,  with  its  superintendent  of 
delivery  and  its  superintendent  of  the  mailing-room. 
There  is  the  etching  room,  with  its  artists  and  experts, 

23 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

who  make  the  cuts  for  the  pictures  that  go  into  the 
paper.  The  proof-room  has  its  responsible  head  and 
its  experts.  There  are  the  composing,  stereotyping, 
and  press  rooms,  each  with  a  foreman  in  charge. 
Perfect  cooperation  exists  among  all  the  departments 
in  both  sections. 

Almost  a  million  people  in  the  United  States  are 
supported,  directly  or  indirectly,  by  the  newspaper  in- 
dustry and  the  enterprises  dependent  upon  it.  Nearly 
100,000  persons  are  employed  on  the  21,272  newspa- 
pers and  other  periodicals  of  the  country,  to  whom  are 
paid  nearly  $80,000,000  annually  in  wages.  The  last 
census  shows  the  receipts  of  the  newspaper  publishers 
during  1900  to  have  been  $175,000,000,  of  which  $95,- 
000,000  came  from  advertising  and  $80,000,000  from 
subscriptions.  Advertising  at  last  fairly  overshadows 
the  sale  of  copies  as  a  source  of  income,  in  spite  of 
the  amazing  increase  in  circulation.  The  aggregate 
number  of  copies  of  newspapers  and  other  periodicals 
issued  during  the  last  census  year  was  8,000,000,000, 
nearly  double  the  circulation  of  a  decade  previous. 
If  printed  in  book  form  the  newspapers  and  maga- 
zines issued  in  a  single  year  in  the  United  States 
would  make  a  library  of  4,000,000,000  copies  as  large 
as  David  Harum. 

In  some  cases  the  cost  of  producing  a  newspaper 
exceeds  that  of  carrying  on  the  Government  of  the 
State  in  which  it  is  published.  The  regular  expenses 
of  the  larger  dailies  average  between  $20,000  and 
$35>°°°  a  week.  The  cost  of  white  paper  in  some 
cases  nearly  equals  that  of  all  the  labor  employed. 
One  New  York  paper  recently  used  337,000  miles  of 
paper  in  a  year,  costing  $617,000.  The  expenses  of 
the  whole  establishment  are  more  than  $2,000,000  a 
year.  That  paper  gives  regular  employment  to  1,300 

24 


POSITIONS   AND   SALARIES 

men  and  women,  and  has  the  occasional  service  of 
twice  that  number  besides. 

The  newspapers  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  busi- 
ness men.  This  means  that  the  establishments  are 
conducted  on  sound  financial  principles  and  that  the 
employees  are  as  sure  of  their  pay  as  in  any  other 
industry.  In  the  business  and  mechanical  depart- 
ments the  wages  average  well  with  those  in  stores  and 
factories.  In  the  writing  departments  the  salaries  are 
perhaps  on  a  par  with  those  of  teachers  and  college 
professors,  but  never  equal  the  best  incomes  obtain- 
able in  law,  medicine,  or  the  more  lucrative  lines  of 
business.  Yet  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  news- 
paper work  begins  paying  a  fair  salary  at  a  time  when 
the  young  lawyer  or  doctor  is  still  starving  and  wait- 
ing for  a  practice,  and  when  the  would-be  professor 
is  still  paying  tuition. 

Newspaper  writing,  in  the  essential  qualifications 
required,  is  a  learned  profession ;  but  in  its  exactions 
and  its  comparative  insecurity  of  employment  it  more 
nearly  resembles  a  trade.  In  the  first  ten  years  the 
young  journalist  masters  reporting,  copy  reading,  and 
the  rest  of  the  routine  work.  In  the  next  ten  years  he 
usually  receives  the  best  salaries  the  profession  has  to 
offer  for  his  degree  of  ability.  Probably  by  the  close 
of  the  third  decade  he  sees  his  salary  decreasing,  if 
he  does  not  find  it  impossible  to  secure  employment 
at  all.  The  tendency  to  throw  out  the  older  men 
exists  in  all  lines  of  business  in  large  cities,  but  the 
swiftness  of  the  pace  in  journalism  makes  this  evil 
rather  worse  in  this  profession  than  in  others.  The 
only  man  who  can  hold  his  own  against  the  onward 
march  of  youth  in  the  newspaper  office  is  the  special- 
ist. His  specialty  may  be  reminiscence,  or  statistics, 
or  politics,  or  books,  or  Wall  Street  affairs,  but  only 

25 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

when  he  speaks  with  authority  on  some  subject  are  his 
years  tolerated.  In  other  words,  the  man  who  makes 
himself  indispensable  may  for  a  time  defy  even  the 
age  limit  if  he  retain  his  mental  and  bodily  vigor. 

The  income  of  many  a  young  man  who  gets  a 
foothold  on  a  large  New  York  daily  is  from  $500  to 
$700  the  first  year.  This  may  be  doubled  the  second 
year.  In  the  third  year,  or  even  sooner,  if  he  be 
clever,  he  begins  receiving  the  best  assignments,  and 
finds  himself  working  as  a  space  writer  on  equal  terms 
with  the  most  experienced  men.  Perhaps  he  earns 
$3,000  that  year  and  each  year  thereafter  until  he  is 
crowded  out  by  younger  men.  This  is  a  case  some- 
what better  than  the  average  among  the  newspaper 
writers  of  that  city.  The  average  income  of  the  whole 
profession  in  New  York  is  said  to  be  $2,000  a  year. 

The  ordinary  pay  of  a  reporter  in  all  the  larger 
cities  of  the  United  States  is  about  $30  a  week. 
There  is  no  uniformity  of  wages,  even  in  the  same 
town.  The  wealthiest  papers  try  to  get  the  best  men 
by  paying  the  highest  salaries.  The  profession  is  a 
refuge  for  hundreds  of  men  who  have  failed  in  other 
walks  of  life,  and  the  supply  of  ordinary  writers  is  so 
great  that  any  large  newspaper  might  change  its  en- 
tire force  in  a  day.  But  these  facts  need  not  trouble 
the  ambitious  and  wide-awake  youth  who  has  the 
qualities  and  the  industry  to  raise  himself  above  the 
dead  level  of  mediocrity. 

In  New  York  city  there  are  two  or  three  papers 
that  pay  their  managing  editors  $15,000  a  year,  and 
in  the  same  city  two  or  three  other  managing  editors 
draw  $10,000  a  year.  Editorial  writers  and  the  vari- 
ous subeditors  get  salaries  ranging  from  $2,500  to 
$5,000.  Assignment  reporters  earn  from  $2,000  to 
$3,000  a  year  when  successful,  but  others  average  from 

26 


POSITIONS   AND    SALARIES 

$1,500  down  to  $1,000  or  less.  In  Chicago  there  are 
two  or  three  managing  editors  who  receive  from 
$7,500  to  $10,000  a  year.  Editorial  writers  in  Chicago 
get  from  $2,000  to  $3,750,  and  the  pay  of  city  editors 
and  night  editors  has  about  the  same  range.  Copy 
readers  draw  from  $1,500  to  $2,000,  and  department 
editors  from  $2,500  to  $3,000.  Reporters  receive  from 
$750  to  $2,000,  according  to  experience  and  ability. 
These  Chicago  salaries  are  fairly  typical  of  those  in 
the  newspaper  offices  of  Boston,  Philadelphia,  and  St. 
Louis.  In  all  the  smaller  cities  they  are  somewhat 
lower. 

There  are  in  the  United  States  2,226  daily  news- 
papers, of  which  more  than  2,000  are  published  in 
towns  of  less  than  100,000  inhabitants.  In  these 
smaller  cities  and  villages  there  are  not  many  salaried 
positions  that  pay  more  than  $30  a  week,  yet  in  every 
town  of  25,000  inhabitants  there  are  a  few  positions 
paying  about  that  salary.  The  number  of  papers  pub- 
lished in  English  in  the  thirty-eight  cities  of  more  than 
100,000  inhabitants  in  the  United  States  is  180,  and 
these  constitute  practically  the  entire  field  in  which  the 
trained  journalist  may  reasonably  expect  to  earn  more 
than  $1,500  a  year.  The  market  for  the  sale  of  manu- 
scripts, outside  of  the  magazines,  also  is  practically 
confined  to  the  more  prosperous  of  these  180  papers. 

Engagements  to  write  for  a  newspaper  are  usually 
made  verbally,  with  a  possibility  of  discharge  at  any 
moment;  but  this  insecurity  is  offset  by  the  fact  that 
an  experienced  and  reliable  man  on  the  sunny  side  of 
fifty  can  almost  always  find  a  new  position  with  little 
difficulty.  Salaries  are  paid  weekly. 

Journalism  is  one  of  the  most  exacting  professions. 
The  successful  newspaper  man  must  be  ever  on  the 
alert.  John  A.  Cockerill  once  remarked  that  a  news- 

27 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

paper  man  should  have  no  friends,  no  social  relations, 
no  family.  He  should  live,  eat,  and  sleep  in  his  office, 
and  Uie  first  time  he  ventures  out  of  its  door  he  should 
be  hit  on  the  head  with  a  club.  This  may  be  taken  as 
the  pessimistic  raillery  of  an  overworked  man,  but 
there  is  a  good  deal  of  truth  in  it.  The  night  work 
and  long  hours  cut  the  newspaper  man  off  from  social 
intercourse  to  a  considerable  degree.  He  must  have 
more  than  ordinary  interest  in  his  profession  to  make 
it  a  pleasure  to  him.  He  needs  a  good  constitution 
to  stand  the  irregularities  of  eating  and  sleeping  that 
are  at  times  unavoidable. 

The  glamour  surrounding  journalism  in  the  popu- 
lar mind  must  be  discounted  in  some  respects.  The 
young  man  yearns  for  the  free  tickets  to  the  theaters, 
the  free  passes  on  the  railroads,  the  gay  little  suppers 
with  pretty  actresses,  the  midnight  gatherings  of  bril- 
liant wits  over  their  pipes  and  beer,  and  possibly 
under  this  he  has  a  feeling  that  he  has  something  to 
tell  the  public.  When  he  gets  into  the  business  he 
finds  that  the  free  tickets  and  passes  are  few  or  none, 
that  the  working  day  is  too  long  and  the  pay  too 
small  for  the  gay  diversions  of  which  he  dreamed,  and 
that  his  message  to  the  world  must  wait  until  he  can 
buy  a  paper  of  his  own  in  which  to  print  it.  These 
discoveries  disappoint  him,  yet  the  work  of  the  great 
newspaper  office  comes  to  have  a  fascination  for  him. 
Its  excitements,  its  outlook  upon  the  world,  its  op- 
portunities for  knowing  men,  and  the  sense  of  power 
that  comes  from  being  a  part  of  such  an  engine  of 
civilization — these  things  create  a  spell  which  the 
born  journalist  is  loath  to  break.  He  may  not  always 
get  his  reward  in  money,  but  he  gets  it  in  doing  the 
one  thing  in  the  world  that  he  finds  most  pleasure  in 
doing. 

28 


POSITIONS   AND   SALARIES 

Happily  the  wages  and  the  quality  of  work  on  the 
newspapers  are  growing  better  each  year.  A  half  a 
century  ago  there  was  only  one  newspaper  salary  of 
$2,500  in  the  country,  and  in  the  small  towns  reporters 
and  editorial  writers  were  paid  from  $12  to  $20  a 
month — about  the  same  as  farm  hands.  Now  every 
newspaper  man  with  a  love  for  his  profession  and  with 
average  intellectual  powers  can  enter  journalism  with 
a  fair  assurance  that  he  can  make  a  respectable  living 
in  it.  It  is  not  brain  strength  so  much  as  it  is  alert 
and  agile  mentality  that  is  required  to  make  a  good 
newspaper  man.  For  those  who  have  this  faculty  the 
chances  in  journalism  are  better  than  they  ever  were 
before. 


29 


m 

HOW  A  REPORTER  IS  EDUCATED 

EVERY  managing  editor  and  city  editor  on  a  met- 
ropolitan daily  is  troubled  with  an  endless  procession 
of  applicants  for  places  on  the  paper.  As  the  normal 
vacancies  in  a  newspaper  office  are  no  more  abundant 
than  those  in  a  factory  or  a  store  of  the  same  size, 
it  naturally  follows  that  most  of  these  tenders  of  serv- 
ice must  be  refused.  It  is  also  apparent  that  when 
the  editor  does  choose  a  new  reporter  he  will  take 
one  who  can  give  proof  of  experience  in  the  craft. 
It  is  practically  useless  for  a  green  hand,  even 
though  he  be  a  college  graduate  or  a  well-informed 
business  man,  to  apply  to  a  large  morning  paper  for 
a  position.  All  papers  that  pay  good  salaries  want 
none  but  experts.  They  have  no  time  to  train  raw 
recruits.  The  morning  papers  in  American  cities 
draw  most  frequently  upon  the  staffs  of  the  evening 
papers  for  their  new  men,  and  the  evening  papers  get 
many  of  their  recruits  from  prosperous  dailies  in  the 
smaller  towns. 

There  is  no  fixed  starting-place  and  no  inevitable 
line  of  promotion  through  which  the  young  newspa- 
per man  must  go,  but  it  is  certain  that  he  should  not 
make  the  mistake  of  seeking  the  large  city  before  he 
has  learned  the  rudiments  of  the  profession.  There 
are  romantic  stories  about  plucky  youths  who  have 
staked  everything  on  such  a  venture,  and  who  have 

30 


HOW  A  REPORTER  IS  EDUCATED 

been  saved  from  starvation  at  the  last  moment  by  an 
editor's  recognition  of  their  brilliant  literary  qualities ; 
but  it  really  is  not  romantic  to  be  starving  to  death. 
Besides,  one  never  hears  of  those  who  are  not  saved 
at  the  last  moment. 

The  open  door  to  journalism  for  the  country  boy 
or  for  the  dweller  in  a  small  town  or  city  is  the  local 
paper.  The  humblest  country  weekly  will  serve  as  a 
starting-point.  The  proper  apprenticeship  is  in  the 
position  of  a  reporter  of  neighborhood  news.  Every 
country  paper  wants  a  wide-awake  correspondent  to 
report  the  local  happenings  in  each  village  or  cross- 
roads in  the  county,. as  well  as  in  each  school,  club, 
church,  and  court.  /On  small  weeklies  these  neigh- 
borhood items  are  usually  paid  for  by  giving  the  cor- 
respondent a  free  copy  of  the  paper  and  by  furnishing 
him  with  postage  stamps  and  stationery  .J  There  will 
be  little  or  no  money  in  the  work  at  first,  but  here  the 
primary  lessons  in  news-gathering  can  be  learned. 
From  this  obscure  beginning  there  is  a  continuous 
ladder  of  possible  promotions  leading  up  to  the  high- 
salaried  positions  on  the  largest  city  dailies.  A  boy 
born  in  a  large  city  must  begin  in  much  the  same 
way — perhaps  as  a  reporter  of  news  items  from  his 
school  or  from  his  ward.  Unless  a  man  be  so  fortu- 
nate as  to  have  a  father  who  is  part  owner  of  a  great 
daily,  it  is  folly  for  him  to  expect  to  serve  his  appren- 
ticeship on  such  a  paper.  He  must  begin  at  the  be- 
ginning, and  long  before  he  has  traversed  the  thorny 
and  devious  path  to  success  he  will  have  become  im- 
pressed with  the  fact  that  journalism  is  a  profession 
requiring  special  training  as  imperatively  as  does  that 
of  medicine  or  the  law. 

Perhaps  the  best  way  to  describe  the  course  of 
training  through  which  the  reporter  must  go  will  be 

31 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

to  present  a  typical  case,  based  on  the  actual  expeii- 
ence  of  a  successful  Kansas  editor,  whose  story  ap- 
peared in  a  technical  journal  not  long  ago.  His  name, 
for  present  purposes,  may  be  Brown.  He  was  a  farm- 
er's boy  and  knew  the  meaning  of  work.  One  day  he 
was  induced  to  write  neighborhood  notes  for  the  local 
weekly  paper.  Duly  impressed  with  the  responsibility 
of  his  position,  he  kept  his  paper  fully  informed  when 
Johnson's  cow  wandered  away,  or  when  Mrs.  Tomp- 
kins  recovered  from  the  influenza,  or  when  Josiah 
Smith  broke  the  county  record  in  husking  corn.  He 
was  found  to  have  the  faculty  of  seeing  things  worth 
telling  and  of  narrating  them  in  a  breezy  way.  In  the 
winter  months  Brown  went  to  school,  and  by  rigid 
economy  his  father  managed  to  send  him  to  college. 
He  dabbled  in  college  journalism  and  wrote  an  occa- 
sional letter  for  his  home  paper,  and  when  he  had 
completed  his  course  the  editor  of  the  weekly  recom- 
mended him  to  a  neighboring  small  city  daily  that 
needed  a  reporter.  Thus  he  suddenly  found  himself 
on  what  he  then  regarded  as  the  highway  to  power 
and  wealth — with  the  lucrative  salary  of  $10  a  week. 
Brown  was  assigned  to  "do"  the  suburbs,  and 
after  he  had  canvassed  them  for  news  he  was  to  re- 
turn in  the  evening  and  hold  copy  for  the  proof-reader. 
It.  did  not  take  him  long  to  learn  that  "  legs  "  are 
among  the  essentials  of  reporting,  for  he  had  to  walk 
an  appalling  number  of  miles  for  the  meager  bunch  of 
personals  that  he  hung  on  the  city  editor's  hook  dur- 
ing the  first  few  days.  But  he  also  learned  that  a  re- 
porter can  not  live  by  foot-power  alone.  This  lesson 
was  impressed  upon  him  by  accident  one  day  when  he 
entered  a  grocery  store  and  asked  the  usual  ques- 
tion, "  Have  you  any  news  ?  "  Of  course,  the  local 
merchant  answered  in  the  negative,  as  anybody  will  to 

32 


HOW   A   REPORTER   IS   EDUCATED 

a  general  query  of  that  sort.  But  he  was  at  leisure 
and  in  a  sociable  mood,  so  he  talked  about  the 
weather  and  the  crops,  and  finally  mentioned  that 
there  had  been  a  little  excitement  in  the  neighborhood 
over  a  curious  incident.  The  four-year-old  child  of 
the  local  bank  president  had  fallen  into  a  well  and  had 
been  saved  by  her  fifteen-year-old  sister,  who  had 
climbed  down  and  held  the  child  above  water  until 
help  arrived. 

Brown's  face  lighted  up  and  he  reached  for  his 
note-book.  "  Oh,  you  don't  want  that,"  said  the  mer- 
chant. "  The  child  was  not  injured  in  the  least." 
Brown  felt  ashamed  that  he  should  have  misjudged 
the  value  of  the  item,  so  he  put  up  his  pencil,  and 
when  he  made  his  report  to  the  city  editor  that  even- 
ing he  turned  in  a  five-line  paragraph  about  the 
well  incident.  While  he  was  watching  the  city  edi- 
tor's blue  pencil  go  down  through  his  pages  he  sud- 
denly saw  that  murderous  weapon  pause  with  a  jerk 
and  heard  himself  called  to  the  desk. 

"  What  is  the  rest  of  this  story  about  the  child  that 
fell  into  the  well  ?  "  asked  his  superior. 

"  I  did  not  get  the  details." 

The  face  of  the  city  editor  wore  a  vexed  look,  but 
all  he  said  was :  "  Mr.  Brown,  you  may  go  down  and 
find  out  all  about  the  incident.  Talk  to  the  father 
and  to  the  girl  who  saved  the  child.  It  is  worth  a 
column." 

The  story  was  written,  and  Brown  learned  a  les- 
son. He  learned  that  a  reporter  must  be  able  to  scent 
news  and  to  judge  its  value  independently  of  the  peo- 
ple who  tell  it.  Most  people  do  not  know  a  news 
story  from  a  sun  spot.  The  reporter  who  depends 
only  on  his  legs,  or  who  rushes  about  asking  people, 
"  What's  new  ?  "  is  likely  to  walk  blindly  over  more 

33 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

news  than  he  gets  into  his  note-book.  He  must  have 
both  self-reliance  and  a  nose  for  news. 

Brown  was  so  thoroughly  impressed  with  this  les- 
son that  it  inspired  him  to  learn  another  at  the  same 
time.  Why  not  write  a  condensed  but  dramatic  ver- 
sion of  this  same  story  and  mail  it  to  a  Chicago  paper  ? 
When  he  got  through  with  his  regular  work  that  night 
he  devoted  an  hour  to  this  outside  venture.  Happily 
the  story  was  of  a  kind  which  the  Associated  Press  did 
not  cover.  The  Chicago  paper  accepted  it  for  the 
graphic  style  in  which  it  was  told,  and  a  few  days  later 
Brown  received  a  check  for  $3.  After  that  he  never 
forgot  to  be  on  the  lookout  for  "  space  "  stories.  He 
wrote  many  that  were  never  accepted,  but  he  also 
wrote  some  that  brought  him  more  than  his  whole 
week's  salary  on  the  country  daily.  Best  of  all,  he 
made  his  name  known  in  many  city  offices  in  a  way 
that  was  extremely  valuable  to  him  later. 

It  was  not  long  after  the  rescue  story  had  been 
published  that  Brown  found  himself  summoned  into 
the  august  presence  of  the  chief  editor.  He  almost 
feared  that  his  journalistic  career  was  about  to  come  to 
a  sudden  end,  so  it  was  with  a  thrill  of  pleasure  that  he 
heard  the  editor  say  a  good  word  about  his  story  and 
then  tell  him  he  was  to  be  given  a  trial  on  the  "  rail- 
roads." At  the  same  time  his  salary  was  raised  to 
$12  a  week. 

It  did  not  take  Brown  long  to  learn  that  railroad 
clerks  are  the  busiest  people  on  earth — especially 
when  a  reporter  calls  and  when  their  superiors  are  in 
the  room.  While  the  heads  of  the  departments  were 
not  quite  so  industrious  as  the  clerks,  they  were 
strangely  averse  to  talking  to  Brown,  though  they 
seemed  to  be  communicative  enough  with  their 
friends.  In  short,  Brown  was  making  the  discovery 

34 


HOW   A   REPORTER   IS   EDUCATED 

that  the  underlings  in  great  establishments  are  afraid 
to  talk  to  reporters  for  fear  they  may  tell  something 
that  will  lose  them  their  places.  Meanwhile  the  rail- 
road department  of  Brown's  paper  was  meager,  and 
even  a  local  weekly  "  scooped "  him  unmercifully. 
Brown  saw  that  something  would  have  to  be  done. 
He  had  a  conference  with  himself  early  one  morning 
when  he  ought  to  have  been  asleep,  and  after  a  great 
deal  of  thought  he  evolved  a  desperate  plan.  He 
would  ask  the  superintendent  of  telegraph  whether 
new  lines  were  to  be  built  into  Indian  Territory.  He 
would  ask  the  general  freight  agent  a  series  of  definite 
questions  about  the  California  traffic.  He  would 
beard  the  general  passenger  agent  in  his  den  and  ask 
whether  the  through  business  would  not  justify  a  lim- 
ited train.  In  a  word,  he  would  go  to  the  head  officials 
in  person  and  would  ask  them  specific  questions  that 
would  call  for  definite  answers  of  some  kind. 

He  put  the  plan  into  operation  at  once,  and  it 
worked  his  salvation.  He  found  that  a  railroad  official 
can  not  well  refuse  to  answer  a  question  of  public 
interest  directly  associated  with  his  department.  He 
also  found  that  the  news  elicited  was  often  a  good 
advertisement  for  the  railroad,  and  that  the  officials 
soon  gave  him  certain  kinds  of  news  of  their  own  ac- 
cord. Before  his  new  scheme  had  been  in  use  a  week 
he  found  that  his  dry  half-column  of  personal  items 
had  expanded  into  two  or  three  columns  of  interest- 
ing matter,  sometimes  worthy  of  a  place  on  the  first 
page. 

One  day  Brown  heard  that  there  had  been  a  wreck 
near  the  city.  An  office-boy  met  him  in  the  corridor 
and  said  the  general  manager  wanted  to  see  him.  The 
general  manager  was  especially  cordial,  and  told  the 
young  reporter  that  he  would  consider  it  a  great 

35 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

favor  if  he  would  say  nothing  about  the  little  mishap 
that  had  occurred  on  his  company's  road  that  morn- 
ing. Brown  was  flattered,  for  even  reporters  are 
sometimes  vain,  and  he  wrote  nothing  about  the 
wreck.  He  even  forgot  to  mention  the  matter  to  the 
city  editor.  The  opposition  paper  came  out  with  the 
story,  and  the  "  little  mishap "  proved  to  be  much 
larger  than  Brown  had  been  led  to  suppose.  Brown 
had  an  involuntary  interview  with  the  city  editor,  in 
which  some  things  were  said  that  would  not  look  well 
in  print.  It  did  not  clear  the  atmosphere  when  he 
admitted  that  he  had  heard  of  the  accident,  but  had 
been  requested  to  print  nothing  about  it.  It  only 
brought  upon  his  head  a  sulfurous  reference  to  his 
greenness.  The  accident  had  reflected  upon  the 
management  of  the  road,  and  he  had  let  the  general 
manager  muzzle  him.  He  accepted  his  reprimand 
without  a  word,  but  it  did  not  heal  the  sore  spot  the 
next  day  when  the  little  clerk  at  the  outer  office  of 
the  general  manager  laughed  at  him  and  said :  "  The 
old  man  worked  you  on  that  wreck  story,  didn't  he  ?  " 
That  was  the  time  when  Brown  made  an  indelible 
entry  upon  the  tablets  of  his  private  memory  to  this 
effect :  "  The  man  who  asks  you  to  do  him  a  favor  by 
neglecting  your  duty  doesn't  pay  your  salary." 

It  was  soon  after  Brown  had  been  assigned  to  the 
court  beat  that  he  learned  his  next  lesson  of  this  kind. 
If  there  is  any  place  on  earth  where  the  suppression 
fiend  flourishes  more  than  another  it  is  in  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  courts.  The  second  day  Brown  encoun- 
tered a  "  prominent  citizen,"  who  admitted  that  he 
had  been  intoxicated  and  that  his  eye  had  gone  into 
mourning  because  he  had  attempted  to  whip  a  police- 
man for  advising  him  to  go  home.  The  prominent 
citizen  had  been  fined  $50,  but  the  judge  had  volun- 

36 


HOW  A   REPORTER   IS   EDUCATED 

teered  of  his  own  motion  to  keep  the  name  off  the 
docket. 

"  This  would  ruin  me,"  explained  the  victim  to 
Brown.  "  My  wife  couldn't  stand  it.  Here  is  $10  to 
buy  something  for  yourself  and  cigars  for  the  boys, 
but  please  say  nothing  about  this  trouble." 

Brown  could  never  explain  why  he  reached  out 
his  hand  and  took  the  money,  but  on  the  way  to  the 
office  that  $10  bill  in  his  pocket  made  him  most  un- 
comfortable. It  seemed  as  large  as  a  football.  When 
he  reached  the  office  he  walked  straight  to  the  city 
editor,  told  him  the  whole  story,  and  laid  the  money 
on  his  desk.  The  city  editor  said  nothing  to  Brown 
until  he  had  inclosed  the  $10  in  an  envelope  with  a 
note  to  the  prominent  citizen  explaining  that  when 
the  reporter  had  accepted  the  money  he  had  not  real- 
ized that  an  attempt  was  being  made  to  bribe  him. 
Then  the  editor  turned  to  Brown.  "  Write  the  story," 
was  all  he  said.  Before  Brown's  nerves  settled  again 
to  their  normal  calm  he  had  added  another  entry 
upon  his  memory  tablets :  "  The  man  who  gets  into 
trouble  should  weigh  the  consequences  beforehand, 
instead  of  trusting  the  newspapers  to  shield  his  reputa- 
tion after  he  has  dragged  it  in  the  mire." 

Brown  learned  many  things  in  the  courts.  He 
found  that  the  officials  would  go  to  almost  any 
amount  of  trouble  to  keep  him  from  getting  the  par- 
ticulars about  the  divorce  of  a  prominent  politician, 
while  they  could  be  most  accommodating  if  the  case 
were  that  of  a  drayman.  He  learned  that  lying  to 
reporters  is  not  considered  a  sin,  and  that  this  rule 
even  extended  to  a  minister  who  performed  a  midnight 
wedding  which  the  couple  was  anxious  to  keep  se- 
cret. He  learned  that  he  must  fight  for  all  his  impor- 
tant news  stories  because  there  is  always  some  one 

37 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

who  is  interested  in  keeping  them  out  of  the  papers. 
The  young  man's  confidence  in  human  nature  had 
been  slowly  crumbling,  and  there  was  not  much  of  it 
left  by  the  time  he  was  transferred  from  the  court  beat 
to  politics. 

The  political  field  held  some  surprises  for  Brown. 
A  new  condition  of  things  seemed  to  exist  here.  In- 
stead of  having  to  fight  for  items  he  found  them  pour- 
ing in  on  him.  Every  politician  was  more  than  will- 
ing to  accommodate  him  with  biographical  details  of 
all  sorts,  or  with  nicely  polished  items  all  ready  to 
print.  The  curious  thing  was  that  these  paragraphs 
were  always  complimentary,  and  contained  incidental 
suggestions  as  to  future  honors  in  store  for  the  per- 
sons in  question.  But  by  this  time  Brown  was  almost 
able  to  tell  'when  he  was  being  worked,  and  a  few 
forcible  comments  from  the  city  editor  helped  him  to 
know  the  dividing  line  more  definitely  between  a  news 
item  and  a  raw  puff.  Brown  learned  many  things  as 
political  reporter,  but  they  were  not  things  that  re- 
stored his  shattered  faith  in  human  nature.  He 
learned  that  things  are  done  in  politics  which  are  in 
violation  of  the  laws  of  God  and  man,  and  that  the 
rascals  are  not  all  in  one  political  party.  He  also 
learned  that  a  good  reporter  can  not  himself  be  a 
partizan  without  danger  of  coloring  his  news  and  thus 
proving  false  to  his  own  trust. 

After  five  years'  schooling  in  this  hard  but  legiti- 
mate university  of  journalism — the  city  room  of  a  hus- 
tling daily — Brown  was  fairly  ready  to  be  graduated 
into  something  better  financially  than  he  had  yet 
known.  He  had  learned  to  express  his  thoughts  in 
plain,  simple  language,  and  to  use  two  small  words 
rather  than  one  large  word.  He  had  learned  to  avoid 
such  expressions  as  "  lurid  flames,"  "  the  devouring 

38 


HOW  A  REPORTER  IS  EDUCATED 

element,"  "  the  fire  fiend,"  "  the  last  sad  rites,"  "  as  it 
were,"  "  a  red-letter  day,"  and  a  hundred  other 
phrases  of  hoary  antiquity  that  are  still  "  in  our 
midst."  He  had  learned  always  to  use  the  initials 
of  a  man's  name,  no  matter  how  much  trouble  it  is  to 
find  them,  and  to  be  sure  to  spell  the  name  correctly, 
for  a  man  never  quite  forgives  a  newspaper  that  mis- 
spells his  name.  He  no  longer  believed  everything 
that  was  told  him,  but  investigated  for  himself.  He 
no  longer  let  his  personal  likes  and  dislikes  creep 
into  his  copy,  for  he  had  learned  that  the  public  is 
entitled  to  the  news  and  cares  nothing  for  the  wri- 
ter's personal  quarrels.  He  had  reached  the  point 
where  he  could  refrain  from  garbling  the  news  in 
order  to  make  a  good  story — and  that  is  something 
which  the  greatest  of  the  sensational  journals  have  not 
yet  learned.  Finally,  Brown  had  learned  not  to  try 
to  dictate  the  policy  of  the  paper  on  which  he  worked, 
but  to  be  generous  and  leave  something  for  the  chief 
editor  to  do.  Evidently  Brown  was  growing  good 
enough  to  be  called  up  higher. 

By  this  time  his  salary  had  crept  up  to  the  high- 
water  mark  of  reportorial  pay  in  that  town.  He  was 
getting  $20  a  week.  He  might  be  working  there 
still  for  the  same  salary  if  he  had  been  that  kind  of 
man.  But  I  have  hinted  that  Brown  had  learned  the 
secret  of  serving  up  a  good  local  story  for  the  big  city 
dailies  in  distant  States.  He  was  such  a  useful  man 
that  his  superiors  were  rather  glad  to  have  him  eke 
out  his  slender  pay  in  this  way,  so  long  as  it  did  not 
interfere  with  his  regular  work.  One  day  the  leading 
Wichita  paper  telegraphed  in  quest  of  a  good  man 
to  be  its  local  telegraphic  correspondent,  and  the 
editor  recommended  Brown.  This  gave  Brown  some 
additional  pocket-money,  for  he  was  paid  according  to 

39 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

the  space  his  matter  filled  in  the  Wichita  paper.  In 
time  he  became  the  correspondent  of  several  other 
Kansas  papers,  including  one  in  Topeka.  All  this 
outside  work  made  him  lead  the  life  of  a  slave,  so 
when  he  got  an  offer  of  $25  a  week  from  the  Wichita 
editor,  who  had  been  watching  his  good  work  as  cor- 
respondent, he  accepted  it. 

In  the  new  town  he  found  his  work  difficult,  and 
had  little  leisure  to  pick  up  outside  lines.  He  was  a 
first-rate  reporter  by  this  time,  and  got  the  best  as- 
signments on  his  paper,  but  he  could  not  hope  for 
much  increase  in  salary.  Gradually  he  resumed  the 
work  of  telegraphic  correspondent  for  some  of  the 
papers  which  he  had  represented  in  the  smaller  town, 
and  he  found  he  could  more  than  double  his  salary  if 
only  he  had 'time  to  write  all  the  matter  that  these 
outside  papers  wanted.  So  one  bright  morning  Brown 
resigned  his  place  as  reporter  and  opened  an  office 
of  his  own  in  Wichita,  having  first  laid  in  a  liberal 
stock  of  letter-heads  bearing  the  proud  legend,  "  Carl 
Brown,  Newspaper  Correspondent."  There  followed 
a  period  of  strenuous  life  for  him,  but  a  year  later  he 
was  able  to  write  to  his  brother : 

It  gratifies  my  pride  to  be  able  to  report  that  I  am 
succeeding  far  beyond  my  expectations,  and  seem  to  have 
got  "  on  the  inside,"  with  every  prospect  of  being  able  to 
stay  there.  I  have  for  several  months  been  giving  my 
exclusive  attention  to  special  work  on  outside  papers,  and 
I  find  it  pays  well.  My  income  for  this  work  has  been 
from  $125  to  $150  a  month.  I  have  a  good  room  in  the 
best  office  building  in  town  and  have  the  run  of  both  news- 
paper offices  for  the  collection  of  news.  I  am  the  accred- 
ited correspondent  for  the  New  York  World,  Press,  Herald, 
and  Tribune,  for  the  Kansas  City  Star  and  the  Kansas 
City  World,  for  the  St.  Louis  Post-Dispatch,  Republic, 

40 


HOW   A    REPORTER   IS   EDUCATED 

and  Chronicle,  for  the  Chicago  Record-Herald  and  the 
Chicago  Chronicle,  for  the  San  Francisco  Call,  the  Indi- 
anapolis News,  the  Denver  Times,  and  the  Dallas  News. 
Some  of  these  papers  I  got  by  inducing  their  former  cor- 
respondents to  recommend  me,  and  the  rest  ordered  news 
in  response  to  my  repeated  queries  on  "  hot "  stories.  What 
I  have  done  heretofore  has  been  mostly  by  telegraph,  but 
I  am  learning  the  knack  of  writing  mail  stories  and  am 
going  to  work  that  field  for  whatever  there  is  in  it.  Hav- 
ing such  a  large  list  of  papers  enables  me  to  do  a  great 
deal  of  duplicating  on  straight  news  stories.  I  am  ac- 
quiring some  facility  in  dictating,  and  I  find  that  it  pays 
to  make  use  of  a  stenographer  when  I  have  a  good  story 
to  prepare  in  a  hurry  in  different  forms  for  several  papers 
in  the  same  city.  A  year  ago  I  would  have  laughed  at  the 
idea  of  my  ever  having  use  for  a  stenographer.  I  have 
excellent  health  and  no  end  of  ambition. 


It  was  probably  Brown's  ambition  rather  than  the 
hope  of  any  immediate  wealth  that  took  him  to  Chi- 
cago a  year  or  two  later.  His  numerous  connections, 
clever  writing,  and  general  reliability  had  brought  him 
several  tempting  offers,  but  none  that  promised  to  pay 
much  more  than  his  Wichita  news  bureau.  However, 
he  finally  accepted  a  roving  commission  for  a  Chicago 
daily,  requiring  a  good  deal  of  travel  in  the  Rocky 
Mountain  region,  and  acquitted  himself  so  well  that 
the  managing  editor  offered  him  a  regular  position 
on  the  local  staff.  After  a  strenuous  period  on  gen- 
eral assignments  in  Chicago  he  was  ordered  to  Cuba 
to  investigate  General  Weyler's  reconcentration  meth- 
ods, which  were  beginning  to  arouse  deep  public  feel- 
ing in  the  United  States. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  Brown  should  have  repre- 
sented his  paper  at  the  front  in  Cuba  during  the  war, 
or  that  he  should  have  acquired  considerable  glory 

41 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

and  experience,  with  a  reasonable  income,  in  that 
exciting  period  of  his  life.  By  the  time  the  soldiers 
were  mustered  out,  Brown  was  also  ready  to  take  the 
next  step  in  his  career.  His  war  articles,  which  he 
had  been  allowed  to  sign,  had  opened  the  domain  of 
New  York  journalism  to  him,  and  he  went  to  work 
as  a  local  reporter  in  that  city  at  $40  a  week,  which 
was  raised  to  $50  when  he  was  promoted  to  a  desk 
job.  At  last  accounts  Brown  was  getting  $60  a  week 
as  the  Washington  correspondent  of  his  paper,  and 
was  as  full  of  enthusiasm  and  of  hard  work  as  when 
he  took  his  first  assignment  at  $10  a  week  in  that  little 
Kansas  town.  The  last  time  he  went  through  Chi- 
cago he  was  returning  from  the  West  with  a  remark- 
ably pretty  Kansas  girl  on  his  arm.  Rumor  has  it 
that  Brown  and  his  wife  are  saving  up  money  to  buy 
a  daily  paper  in  Kansas,  in  which  case  he  may  learn 
by  experience  that  good  reporters  do  not  always  make 
successful  editors.  Yet  it  would  not  be  surprising  if 
he  were  some  day  to  be  city  editor  of  that  New  York 
daily,  and  then  managing  editor,  with  a  salary  of 
$15,000  a  year.  That  would  be  the  top  round  on  the 
ladder  of  promotion. 

The  course  of  instruction  through  which  Brown 
went  is  the  legitimate  and  usual  one  for  successful  en- 
trance into  journalism.  Practical  experience  is  the 
only  university  that  can  confer  the  degree  of  Master 
of  the  Pen.  Some  help  can  be  had  from  the  journalis- 
tic courses  now  springing  up  in  the  larger  universities. 
Correspondence  schools  of  journalism  also  may  give 
some  useful  aid  if  they  be  conscientiously  conducted. 
But  nothing  can  teach  journalism  so  thoroughly  as 
hard  experience  under  exacting  editors  in  the  ascend- 
ing scale  of  responsibility  outlined  in  the  foregoing 
sketch.  Different  persons  will  be  able  to  step  upon 

42 


HOW  A  REPORTER  IS  EDUCATED 

different  rounds  of  this  ladder  for  a  beginning,  but  it 
pays  to  start  near  the  bottom. 

For  persons  in  large  cities  it  is  sometimes  neces- 
sary to  start  with  special  articles  for  the  Sunday  pa- 
pers, but  the  task  of  winning  an  entrance  at  that  door 
is  a  long  one  and  full  of  rebuffs  and  discouragements 
for  beginners.  They  usually  begin  by  writing  essays 
on  some  ancient  or  abstruse  subject,  and  they  meet 
many  bitter  disappointments  before  they  learn  that 
a  newspaper  has  no  use  for  learned  disquisitions  on 
The  Pharaohs  of  Egypt  or  on  The  Innateness  of  Re- 
ligiosity. In  time  they  may  learn  to  study  the  paper 
for  which  they  are  attempting  to  write,  and  thus  grope 
their  way  toward  success,  but  the  process  as  a  whole 
is  almost  as  long  as  that  through  which  Brown  went, 
and  not  so  thorough.  It  is  the  only  method  open  to 
some,  however,  and  must  be  followed  with  persistence 
until  the  necessary  experience  is  acquired. 

The  current  of  promotion  naturally  flows  from  the 
country  toward  the  city.  The  13,000  country  weeklies 
in  the  United  States  are  the  primary  schools  in  which 
men  are  trained  for  the  higher  positions  in  journalism. 
Almost  every  large  city  newspaper  has  a  special  corre- 
spondent in  each  of  the  more  important  towns  for  hun- 
dreds of  miles  around.  But  there  is  not  news  enough 
in  most  towns  of  10,000  inhabitants  to  bring  in  more 
than  a  few  dollars  a  week,  except  when  some  great 
accident  occurs  or  some  other  unusual  event  calls  for 
extra  space.  The  best  person  for  local  correspondent, 
therefore,  is  the  editor  or  reporter  on  a  local  paper, 
who  can  send  the  news  to  a  large  city  daily  with  but 
little  extra  effort.  This  is  how  it  happens  that  the 
great  majority  of  country  correspondents  and  agents 
of  the  Associated  Press  are  editors  or  employees  of 
papers  in  their  own  towns.  These  correspondents  are 

43 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

paid  "  space  " — that  is,  they  are  paid  according  to  the 
amount  of  their  matter  printed.  Many  of  them  make 
respectable  sums  even  in  comparatively  small  towns, 
and  they  are  naturally  the  men  and  women  who  have 
the  first  chance  on  the  large  dailies  with  whose  edi- 
tors they  thus  come  into  frequent  communication. 


44 


IV 

THE   REPORTER  AT  WORK 

PROBABLY  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  beginner 
gets  his  first  training  as  a  reporter,  and  in  four  cases 
out  of  five  he  does  his  first  reporting  in  a  country 
town,  as  did  the  enterprising  young  Brown,  whose 
apprenticeship  was  described  in  the  preceding  chapter. 
By  the  time  this  candidate  from  Kansas  was  ready  to 
take  the  Chicago  degree  in  the  journalistic  guild  he 
was  something  of  an  expert.  He  already  knew  what 
hard  work  was,  and  he  could  throw  together  a  story 
quite  handily,  but  he  never  had  learned  what  it  was  to 
work  under  high  pressure  until  he  entered  the  city 
room  of  a  Chicago  morning  paper.  At  the  end  of 
the  first  week  he  wrote  home  that  he  had  discovered 
the  strenuous  life  in  its  native  lair. 

One  of  the  first  things  Brown  learned  was  that  a 
large  newspaper  office  is  neither  a  pure  democracy  nor 
a  model  republic,  but  an  absolute  despotism.  He 
found  that  when  once  on  duty  for  the  day  he  could 
not  even  go  out  to  luncheon  without  the  city  editor's 
permission.  He  discovered  that  he  might  be  kept  at 
work  all  night  or  every  day  in  the  week  if  the  paper 
required  it.  He  learned  that  the  editor-in-chief  of 
every  successful  paper  is  an  autocrat,  and  that  the 
head  of  every  division  likewise  is  an  autocrat  in  that 
department.  Brown  speedily  became  impressed  with 
the  fact  that  the  city  editor  is  the  czar  of  the  local 
5  45 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

room,  but  he  also  saw  that  the  unfortunate  tyrant 
had  responsibilities  to  match  his  powers  of  life  and 
death,  for  it  is  no  light  thing  to  be  held  accountable 
for  the  reporting  of  every  important  event  occurring 
daily  within  a  radius  of  a  hundred  miles.  Another 
thing  learned  by  the  young  man  was  that  the  city 
editor  has  an  uncomfortable  way  of  dropping  his  own 
weight  of  responsibility  upon  the  shoulders  of  his  re- 
porters. Otherwise  he  found  his  chief  a  rather  hu- 
mane sort  of  creature,  with  symptoms  of  a  heart. 

There  is  a  pillar  of  dread  by  day  and  terror  by 
night  that  moves  forever  before  the  eyes  of  the  city 
reporter — the  fear  of  "  falling  down  on  "  an  assign- 
ment. Brown  learned  this  the  first  day,  and  it  was 
impressed  upon  his  mind  anew  every  week  by  dilem- 
mas that  brought  the  perspiration  to  his  brow.  He 
was  in  a  stern  school,  and  his  mind  became  trained  to 
a  degree  of  alertness  he  never  had  known  before.  He 
learned  to  see  things  from  the  newspaper  point  of 
view,  which  is  the  popular  point  of  view,  and  to  put 
his  thoughts  on  paper  rapidly  and  in  logical  order. 
When  he  reached  his  room  at  two  or  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning  he  was  tired,  mentally  and  physically, 
but  when  he  rose  for  breakfast  at  eleven  the  next 
day  he  was  ready  for  another  round  of  the  same  ex- 
citing life. 

Brown  was  fortunate  in  having  a  good  city  editor. 
This  gave  him  a  chance  to  learn  the  relative  values  of 
news  from  an  expert  judge.  When  a  reporter  is  sent 
out  on  an  assignment  that  promises  a  story,  his  first 
duty  upon  returning  to  the  office  is  to  report  the  re- 
sult to  the  city  editor  in  the  fewest  possible  words.  In 
an  instant  the  latter  will  weigh  the  value  of  the  story, 
take  into  account  the  pressure  upon  his  columns,  and 
tell  the  reporter  how  many  words  to  make  of  it — 


THE   REPORTER   AT   WORK 

whether  a  stickful  (about  160  words),  two  or  three 
sticks,  half  a  column,  or  a  column  (about  1,400  words). 
Under  this  training  Brown  soon  learned  to  judge  for 
himself  the  value  of  his  materials  and  to  avoid  wasting 
time  in  gathering  useless  details.  He  was  fortunate, 
too,  in  being  on  a  paper  that  cut  out  every  needless 
word.  This  forced  him  to  learn  a  condensed  style  of 
writing,  and  to  depend  solely  upon  additional  details 
in  giving  unusual  length  to  a  story.  By  this  means 
he  escaped  the  besetting  sin  of  the  poor  reporter — a 
wordy  style. 

There  was  still  one  of  the  hardest  branches  of  re- 
porting, however,  which  Brown  had  not  quite  mas- 
tered— the  art  of  interviewing.  One  day  he  was  sent 
to  get  an  important  interview  with  a  strike  leader. 
The  man  began  to  talk  freely  on  exactly  the  point  de- 
sired, and  Brown  was  so  anxious  to  get  the  words 
accurately  that  he  pulled  out  his  note-book  and  pencil 
and  began  making  notes.  The  sight  of  this  process 
alarmed  the  man,  and  he  suddenly  ceased  talking  and 
could  not  be  induced  to  say  another  word.  He  had 
known  from  the  first  that  Brown  was  a  reporter,  but 
the  thought  of  having  his  exact  words  put  into  print 
frightened  him.  Brown  had  to  report  his  failure  at 
the  city  editor's  desk,  and  the  acrid  remarks  of  that 
gentleman  served  to  etch  upon  the  young  reporter's 
mind  this  wise  rule :  "  Keep  your  pencil  and  note- 
book in  your  pocket  as  long  as  possible  when  inter- 
viewing." In  time  he  became  noted  as  an  expert  in- 
terviewer. Here  are  his  views  on  the  subject : 

'  The  interview  was  first  employed  as  a  vehicle  of 
news  by  the  New  York  Herald  in  1859.  When  the 
John  Brown  raid  occurred  at  Harper's  Ferry  the  Her- 
ald sent  a  reporter  to  call  on  Gerrit  Smith  in  his  home 
in  Peterborough.  Smith  discussed  the  matter  freely, 

47 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

and  the  result  was  an  interview  in  the  modern  sense. 
During  the  civil  war  it  was  applied  to  many  men  and 
became  a  permanent  feature  of  journalism.  It  is  an 
American  invention  and  long  was  denounced  by  Eng- 
lish journals,  but  in  recent  years  it  has  been  adopted 
quite  generally  by  London  papers.  The  interview  is 
a  journalistic  tool  that  can  be  abused,  especially  in  the 
hands  of  reckless  papers  and  irresponsible  reporters, 
but  when  rightly  used  it  is  one  of  the  most  valuable 
features  of  modern  journalism. 

"  The  cut-and-dried  interview,  consisting  of  set 
questions  and  answers  in  alternation,  is  now  practi- 
cally dead,  except  with  the  obliging  gentlemen  who 
sometimes  interview  themselves  and  hand  the  com- 
pleted result  to  the  unfortunate  reporter.  The  best 
writers  of  interviews  now  put  their  matter  into  much 
the  same  form  as  that  used  by  the  novelist.  What 
formerly  was  a  dull  broadside  of  set  talk  is  enlivened 
by  bits  of  description  portraying  the  speaker  as  well 
as  his  ideas.  Clever  condensations  of  his  words  are 
made  where  he  becomes  too  prolix,  and  explanatory 
remarks  are  dropped  in  where  necessary,  while  the 
questions  may  be  omitted  entirely  where  the  connec- 
tion is  clear  without  them. 

"The  modus  operandi  is  simple,  but  not  easy. 
The  reporter  meets  his  man,  has  a  talk  with  him  on 
the  subjects  desired,  and,  instead  of  taking  a  verbatim 
record  of  every  word,  watches  to  catch  the  spirit  of 
what  is  said  and  the  manner  in  which  it  is  uttered, 
and  jots  down  the  man's  exact  words  only  on  vital 
or  technical  points.  He  may  use  the  note-book  or  not, 
according  to  circumstances,  but  he  should  defer  re- 
sorting to  it  as  long  as  possible.  With  his  materials 
mostly  in  his  head,  he  goes  to  his  desk  and  writes  the 
interview  in  the  form  just  described.  One-half  the 


THE    REPORTER   AT   WORK 

words  credited  to  the  speaker  may  not  have  been 
uttered  by  him,  yet  if  the  work  be  well  done  it  will 
be  more  just  and  infinitely  more  readable  than  if  it 
had  been  taken  down  in  shorthand  and  written  out 
verbatim. 

"  Interviewing  is  hard  work.  Finding  your  man 
sometimes  is  the  worst  part  of  the  task,  but  more 
often  it  is  still  harder  to  get  him  to  talk.  People  to 
be  interviewed  are  of  three  kinds — those  who  talk  too 
much,  those  who  talk  too  little,  and  those  who  will  not 
talk  at  all.  And  after  you  do  get  your  man  to  talk- 
ing it  takes  the  concentration  of  all  your  mental  pow- 
ers to  do  your  part  of  the  work.  You  must  pay  the 
closest  attention  to  what  he  is  saying,  grasp  and  re- 
member the  points  he  makes,  take  notes  on  the  statis- 
tics he  may  quote,  jot  down  some  of  his  striking  sen- 
tences, keep  up  your  end  of  the  conversation,  and  at 
the  same  time  bear  in  mind  all  the  other  questions 
which  you  still  must  ask,  for  it  will  avail  nothing  to 
think  of  a  neglected  point  after  you  get  back  to  your 
office.  The  task  often  is  one  to  make  even  an  expe- 
rienced interviewer  perspire.  Before  approaching 
your  man,  be  sure  you  have  outlined  clearly  in  your 
mind  just  what  questions  you  wish  to  ask  him ;  the 
only  people  who  get  things  in  this  world  are  those 
who  know  what  they  want.  Impress  each  thought 
upon  your  mind  when  it  is  uttered,  and  when  you  re- 
turn to  your  desk  you  will  be  surprised  to  see  how 
much  of  the  conversation  you  can  reproduce  from 
memory.  An  important  trick  in  interviewing  is  to  be 
on  the  lookout  for  any  pet  phrase  which  the  speaker 
is  in  the  habit  of  using,  and  to  work  this  into  the 
article  once  or  twice.  It  gives  a  lifelike  touch  to  the 
story. 

"  There  are  two  good  ways  to  begin  an  interview 

49 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

story.  Either  start  with  a  brief  paragraph  of  intro- 
duction, giving  the  name  of  the  speaker  and  locating 
the  conversation  in  time  and  place,  or  begin  with  the 
man's  most  important  sentence,  and  then  go  on  to 
state  who  said  it  and  what  was  the  occasion  for  the 
utterance.  As  you  proceed  with  the  body  of  the 
article  take  care  not  to  be  too  rigidly  verbatim. 
Wherever  there  is  any  part  of  the  talk  that  is  dull  or 
wordy,  give  the  pith  of  the  matter  in  your  own  words, 
and  then  drop  into  direct  quotation  again.  A  well- 
written  interview  with  a  prominent  man  on  an  impor- 
tant subject  is  a  thing  in  which  any  reporter  may  take 
pride." 

By  the  time  Brown  had  been  graduated  into  New 
York  journalism  he  was  worthy  to  be  entrusted  with 
the  most  responsible  assignments.  The  thrill  of  seeing 
his  story  on  the  first  page  had  become  familiar.  He 
always  worked  hard  and  could  be  relied  upon  to  get  a 
story  out  of  a  "  tip  "  if  any  man  could.  Sometimes 
he  would  follow  up  a  subject  a  whole  day  only  to  find 
at  last  that  there  was  no  story  in  it,  but  when  a  paper 
has  a  good  man  on  a  salary  it  cheerfully  pays  for  his 
lean  days  as  well  as  for  his  fat  ones.  At  other  times 
Brown  would  come  suddenly  upon  some  subject  that 
demanded  several  columns,  and  then  he  would  have 
to  work  at  high  pressure  all  day  and  nearly  all  night, 
with  scarcely  time  to  snatch  a  meal. 

Once  he  had  been  working  a  week  on  a  City  Hall 
scandal,  secretly  securing  a  great  mass  of  materials 
for  a  whole-page  story  of  exposure,  when  suddenly 
something  happened  that  made  it  imperative  that  the 
story  be  printed  the  next  day  in  order  to  get  ahead 
of  the  other  papers.  Brown  found  himself  under 
orders  to  write  seven  columns  within  less  than  six 
hours.  To  do  this  with  a  pen  would  be  almost  a 

50 


THE   REPORTER   AT   WORK 

physical  impossibility,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  any 
man  could  do  it  on  a  machine,  but  Brown  achieved 
it  by  dictating  the  story  to  several  shorthand  writers. 
If  he  had  not  acquired  the  habit  of  getting  his  stories 
clearly  before  his  mind,  as  if  about  to  make  an  extem- 
pore speech,  he  could  not  have  scored  the  triumph 
he  did  on  that  occasion.  The  ability  to  make  copy 
by  dictation  is  extremely  valuable  to  a  newspaper 
man. 

After  finishing  his  afternoon  assignment  and  get- 
ting a  more  or  less  hasty  dinner,  the  reporter  usually 
receives  an  evening  assignment,  which  he  is  expected 
to  finish  by  midnight  if  possible.  Late  one  afternoon 
Brown  and  all  the  rest  of  the  available  staff  in  the  local 
room  were  called  out  by  the  sinking  of  a  ferryboat  on 
the  East  River  with  hundreds  of  people  on  board. 
He  and  his  companions  leaped  into  cabs  at  the  first 
corner  and  went  dashing  to  a  slip  where  they  could 
hire  a  steam-launch,  and  in  a  remarkably  short  time 
they  were  at  the  scene  of  the  disaster.  The  boiler  had 
burst,  tearing  a  hole  in  the  vessel's  side,  but  the  cap- 
tain had  managed  to  get  his  craft  near  the  shore  be- 
fore it  sank.  When  Brown  and  his  fellow-reporters 
reached  the  place,  the  boat  lay  on  the  bottom,  with 
parts  of  its  cabin  and  wheel-house  above  water.  To 
these  clung  women  and  men  by  scores.  Others  were 
in  the  water  swimming  toward  land,  while  cries  for 
help  came  from  some  who  were  sinking.  Several 
small  boats  were  busy  with  the  work  of  rescue,  and 
in  this  task  the  reporters  joined,  doing  swift  and  gal- 
lant service  with  their  launch.  Brown  was  in  charge 
of  the  assignment  and  directed  the  work,  and  he  was 
quick  to  appreciate  the  fact  that  the  exploits  of  his 
paper's  own  relief  boat  would  make  a  good  story  in 
themselves.  As  fast  as  people  were  picked  up  out  of 

51 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

the  water  their  names  and  addresses  were  secured — 
if  they  were  not  too  exhausted  to  talk — and  while  they 
were  being  conveyed  to  the  dock  they  were  inter- 
viewed regarding  their  personal  experiences  and  im- 
pressions. 

When  the  stragglers  in  the  water  had  all  been  at- 
tended to,  Brown  ran  his  launch  alongside  the  wreck 
and  continued  the  work  of  rescue.  The  captain  still 
clung  to  his  post  of  duty,  insisting  that  he  would  be 
the  last  to  leave  the  boat.  Seizing  his  opportunity, 
Brown  left  the  launch  and  climbed  to  the  precarious 
perch  on  the  pilot-house  where  the  captain  stood,  and 
had  a  brief  but  valuable  talk  with  him,  securing  the 
names  of  the  men  who  had  been  in  the  engine-room 
at  the  time  of  the  explosion,  nearly  all  of  whom  were 
missing.  That  interview  with  the  captain  enabled 
Brown  to  give  his  paper  the  best  report  of  the  acci- 
dent printed  in  any  paper.  It  also  enabled  him  to 
make  a  closer  guess  than  the  others  as  to  the  number 
of  lives  lost. 

The  engineer  in  charge  of  the  fatal  boiler  was 
dead.  Brown  had  been  sufficiently  foresighted  to  se- 
cure the  man's  home  address  from  the  captain.  It 
was  extremely  important  that  a  clue  be  secured,  if  pos- 
sible, to  the  cause  of  the  accident.  The  engineer's 
family  might  have  heard  him  say  the  boiler  was  de- 
fective. Brown  determined  to  go  and  see  them  him- 
self. As  soon  as  the  work  of  rescue  was  completed 
and  the  other  men  had  returned  to  the  office  to  put 
their  part  of  the  story  into  copy,  Brown  jumped  into 
a  cab  and  drove  swiftly  to  the  engineer's  home.  The 
wife  came  to  the  door  herself,  and  one  glance  at  her 
smiling  face  told  Brown  that  she  had  not  yet  heard 
the  dreadful  news.  She  cordially  invited  him  to  come 
in  when  he  introduced  himself,  and  two  shy  little  girls 

52 


THE    REPORTER   AT   WORK 

and  a  tiny  boy  with  a  mischievous  twinkle  in  his 
brown  eyes  suspended  their  games  to  look  at  the  re- 
porter. It  was  Brown's  duty  to  tell  this  woman  that 
she  was  a  widow,  and  these  children  that  they  were 
orphans.  It  was  not  the  first  or  last  time  he  had  to 
carry  tidings  of  death  into  a  happy  home  circle,  but 
he  says  it  never  seemed  harder  than  it  did  that  even- 
ing. He  felt  like  a  murderer  as  he  struck  the  blow 
that  drove  the  color  from  the  woman's  face  and  the 
sunshine  from  her  eyes. 

A  reporter  is  like  a  soldier.  He  must  do  many 
things  against  his  will,  because  duty  so  orders  it.  In 
this  case  Brown  was  rewarded  by  hearing  the  unhappy 
woman  tell  how  "  Jim  "  had  said  repeatedly  that  the 
boiler  was  defective  and  would  yet  be  the  death  of 
him.  From  the  view-point  of  the  professional  journal- 
ist this  interview  fixing  the  blame  upon  the  owners  of 
the  ferryboat  was  worth  any  amount  of  suffering  on 
the  part  of  Brown  or  anybody  else.  It  was  in  this 
light  that  the  city  editor  and  the  managing  editor 
viewed  the  subject  by  the  time  Brown  had  finished 
writing  the  last  page  of  his  story  at  two  o'clock  the 
next  morning,  and  this  achievement  did  as  much  as 
any  other  one  thing  to  secure  for  him  the  lucrative 
place  of  head  of  the  Washington  bureau  of  his  paper. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  Brown's  career  far- 
ther. The  reader  has  had  glimpses  of  him  while  at 
work  on  his  more  important  tasks,  but  little  has  been 
said  about  the  countless  disagreeable  or  trivial  as- 
signments that  fall  to  every  reporter's  lot.  No  man 
can  have  pleasant  or  exciting  subjects  every  day. 
Each  must  take  the  lean  with  the  fat.  Even  the  desk 
men  must  be  able  and  willing  to  go  out  on  the  street 
and  "  hustle "  in  an  emergency.  A  metropolitan 
newspaper  is  like  a  vessel  bound  on  a  long  voyage.  It 

53 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

can  not  afford  to  carry  any  but  expert  sailors.  Every 
man,  from  captain  to  scullion,  must  be  both  able  and 
willing  to  help  reef  the  main  topsail  in  a  storm.  Every 
man  also  must  be  willing  to  do  more  prosaic  things. 
There  is  a  large  amount  of  drudgery  in  the  reporter's 
work,  but  there  is  also  an  infinite  variety  in  it. 

Many  people  have  an  idea  that  reporters  wander 
about  the  streets,  waiting,  like  Micawber,  for  some- 
thing to  turn  up.  Nothing  could  be  much  farther 
from  the  fact.  News-gathering  on  every  large  paper  is 
reduced  to  an  exact  system.  The  reporter  seldom 
goes  out  without  being  sent  for  a  particular  piece  of 
news,  and  usually  he  is  sent  to  a  designated  place  or 
person.  He  is  acting  as  feet  and  fingers  to  execute 
the  plans  of  the  editor.  If  he  sometimes  seems  impu- 
dent in  his  persistence,  it  may  be  pleaded  in  his  behalf 
that  he  is  under  a  pressure  that  would  make  anybody 
bold.  Many  people  also  have  the  idea  that  reporters 
get  a  chance  to  attend  all  kinds  of  speeches  and  enter- 
tainments, enjoy  the  programs  to  the  end,  and  then 
go  to  their  offices  and  write  at  leisure.  For  the  re- 
porter's sake  one  wishes  this  might  be  true.  The  fact 
is  that  the  reporter  usually  has  to  hunt  up  the  speaker 
beforehand,  secure  an  outline  or  a  manuscript  copy  of 
the  speech,  make  extracts  from  it,  and  write  his  report 
in  the  past  tense  before  the  speech  has  been  delivered. 
Many  an  entertainment  must  be  described  from  a 
printed  program  or  from  a  brief  glance  into  the  room 
and  an  interview  with  the  manager. 

How  does  a  newspaper  learn  about  everything  that 
happens?  In  a  hundred  ways — through  the  tele- 
phone, the  telegraph,  the  mail,  and  the  verbal  hints  of 
friends ;  by  watching  all  the  latest  issues  of  other  pa- 
pers, far  and  near,  for  announcements  of  future  events, 
and  for  topics  that  have  not  been  exhausted,  or  that 

54 


THE   REPORTER   AT   WORK 

promise  new  developments.  Much  of  the  court  and 
police  news,  and  similar  routine  matter,  is  gathered  by 
men  who  make  a  systematic  round  every  day  for  that 
purpose,  and  these  reporters,  like  all  the  rest  of  the 
staff,  are  always  on  the  watch  for  important  "  tips," 
which  they  communicate  to  the  city  editor.  Many 
similar  hints  come  from  friends  of  the  paper,  or  from 
people  who  are  interested  in  having  a  certain  event 
reported.  But  the  most  desirable  stories  often  are 
those  which  have  to  be  ferreted  out  in  spite  of  the 
opposition  of  those  most  concerned,  and  it  is  here  that 
the  keen  scent  and  indomitable  resourcefulness  of  the 
trained  reporter  comes  into  play.  Exposures  of  fraud 
and  official  corruption  come  in  this  class  of  news. 

All  "  tips  "  of  future  and  expected  events  are  re- 
corded carefully  in  an  "  assignment  book,"  in  which  is 
indicated  the  day  when  each  subject  will  be  ripe  for 
publication.  This  important  volume  contains  future 
issues  of  the  paper  in  embryo  for  weeks  ahead.  The 
more  systematically  and  carefully  it  is  kept,  the  more 
thoroughly  the  paper  is  likely  to  cover  the  news  field, 
especially  in  local  matters.  It  is  the  task  of  the  execu- 
tive editors  to  see  that  each  assignment  is  covered 
properly  at  the  right  time,  and  that  all  the  unexpected 
events  of  each  day  also  are  dealt  with  quickly  and 
competently.  The  means  of  communication  now  are 
so  perfect  and  the  assistance  of  local  and  international 
news  agencies  is  so  competent  that  every  wide-awake 
newspaper  is  almost  certain  to  hear  of  every  important 
event.  The  test  of  comparative  excellence  lies  in 
choosing  the  best  subjects  to  enlarge  upon  and  in  get- 
ting the  most  thorough  and  reliable  reports  on  those 
subjects.  The  daily  endeavor  to  do  this  work  within 
a  limited  time  is  what  constitutes  the  stress  and  strain 
of  the  newspaper  man's  life. 

55 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

One  can  not  work  long  on  a  city  newspaper  with- 
out discovering  that  one  is  being  driven.  When  press 
time  approaches,  and  when  the  copy  boy  snatches 
each  sheet  from  your  hand  without  giving  you  a 
chance  to  read  it  over,  your  nerves  are  sure  to  feel  the 
test.  It  requires  a  cool  head  to  write  well  under  such 
conditions.  The  work  teaches  concentration  of  mind. 
It  teaches  one  the  value  of  time  as  nothing  else  can. 
The  pressure  on  an  afternoon  paper  is  especially  se- 
vere, for  the  working  hours  are  shorter,  and  a  delay 
of  a  few  minutes  in  completing  a  story  may  mean  all 
the  difference  between  success  and  failure. 

If  you  become  a  reporter  on  a  morning  paper  the 
mental  strain  is  likely  to  be  spread  over  a  larger  num- 
ber of  hours.  You  may  have  covered  your  afternoon 
and  evening  ^assignments,  and  with  the  clock's  hands 
pointing  to  midnight  you  may  be  entertaining  furtive 
thoughts  of  supper  and  bed,  when  the  fire-alarm  on 
the  office  wall  rings,  and  suddenly  you  are  off  upon 
the  hardest  assignment  of  the  day.  You  find  yourself 
threading  dark  alleys,  hunting  up  the  night  watchman 
of  the  burning  building  to  learn  how  the  fire  origi- 
nated, interviewing  the  fire  marshal,  and  rousing  the 
owner  of  the  building  from  sleep  to  tell  him  the  news 
and  learn  the  value  of  the  structure  and  the  amount  of 
the  insurance.  Perhaps  you  must  run  several  blocks 
before  you  can  find  a  telephone  and  send  in  the  main 
facts  in  time  for  the  first  edition.  Or  perhaps  a  wall 
falls  and  kills  a  fireman.  No  matter  how  narrow  your 
own  escape,  your  business  is  to  get  the  name  and 
address  of  the  unfortunate  man,  to  give  a  vivid  de- 
scription of  how  he  fell  at  the  post  of  duty,  and 
perhaps  to  tell  of  a  wife  and  family  left  in  sorrow  and 
want. 

At  last  the  long  and  wearing  day  of  twelve  or 

56 


THE    REPORTER   AT   WORK 

thirteen  hours  is  ended.  After  a  plain  but  hearty  sup- 
per, finished  by  the  light  of  the  rising  sun,  perhaps, 
the  reporter  throws  himself  on  his  bed  and  sleeps  the 
sleep  of  a  tired  man — if  he  can  for  the  city's  din.  Be- 
fore noon  he  must  be  up  again,  ready  for  breakfast 
and  for  another  turn  in  the  kaleidoscopic  round.  And 
so  his  work  runs  on  from  one  month's  end  to  another, 
until  the  very  variety  of  his  duties  becomes  monoto- 
nous. 

Sunday  usually  is  not  a  day  of  rest  for  the  morn- 
ing newspaper  man,  for  the  Monday's  paper  must  be 
written  on  that  day.  If  there  be  a  Sunday  edition,  as 
there  is  on  almost  all  morning  papers,  then  no  general 
day  of  rest  can  be  set  aside  for  the  whole  staff ;  usually 
it  is  so  arranged  that  each  man  has  one  day  off  during 
the  week.  A  man's  days  are  turned  into  nights  and 
his  nights  into  working  days,  while  his  Sundays  may 
fall  on  Friday  or  any  other  day  of  the  week.  These 
facts  play  havoc  with  his  social  life,  but  his  work 
brings  diversions  of  its  own.  His  task  is  not  easy,  yet 
it  possesses  a  fascination  for  any  alert  mind.  It  is 
excellent  training  for  a  young  writer  intending  to 
enter  almost  any  field  of  literature. 

The  reporter  should  be  a  local  Macaulay,  study- 
ing to  clothe  the  events  which  he  chronicles  in  a  be- 
fitting garment  woven  of  the  myriad  trifling  scenes 
and  incidents  that  surround  the  main  facts,  thus  giv- 
ing vividness  and  life  to  the  narrative.  For  such  re- 
porters there  is  an  increasing  demand  and  abundant 
employment.  The  work  acquaints  one  with  humanity 
as  no  other  course  of  instruction  can ;  and  humanity, 
with  its  faults,  foibles,  hatreds,  crimes,  sorrows,  loves, 
and  joys,  is  a  subject  of  exhaustless  interest.  Yet  too 
much  of  this  hard  and  grinding  work  is  liable  to  make 
a  man  somewhat  cynical,  to  crush  the  finer  sentiments 

57 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

out  of  his  nature,  and  to  mar  the  delicacy  of  touch 
needed  in  the  higher  grades  of  literary  work. 

If  you  have  a  simple,  sensible,  breezy  style  with  a 
sparkle  in  it,  the  newspaper  reader  will  forgive  a  good 
deal  of  inaccuracy  in  your  matter;  and  if  you  are  in- 
variably reliable  in  your  statements,  the  public  will 
tolerate  a  moderate  degree  of  dulness  in  your  style. 
But  the  writer  who  can  combine  both  reliability  and 
sparkle  is  the  one  who  will  get  the  choicest  assign- 
ments and  have  the  best  chance  of  reaching  the  top 
of  his  profession.  On  the  other  hand,  the  unpardon- 
able sin  in  journalism  is  to  be  both  stupid  and  inac- 
curate. 


PLAN   OF  A  NEWS  STORY 

A  NEWS  article,  or  "  story/'  as  it  is  called,  is  con- 
structed upon  plans  and  specifications  of  its  own, 
which  may  be  defined  as  clearly  as  those  governing 
a  poem  or  a  novel.  In  its  aim  and  in  its  form  the 
newspaper  article  is  the  exact  opposite  of  a  sermon  or 
a  tale  of  fiction.  The  well-constructed  sermon,  novel, 
or  drama  begins  with  the  less  important  details  and 
works  up  to  a  climax  near  the  end,  in  which  the  vital 
point  of  the  whole  production  is  revealed.  The  well- 
constructed  news  story  begins  with  its  most  important 
fact  and  ends  with  the  least  important.  The  novelist 
conceals  his  message  as  long  as  possible.  The  news- 
paper writer  tells  forth  his  message  as  quickly  as 
words  will  let  him.  The  fiction  writer  begins  at  the 
beginning  and  follows  the  course  of  events  chronolog- 
ically until  he  reaches  his  dramatic  climax.  The  re- 
porter puts  his  climax  into  his  first  sentence.  This  is 
the  most  important  professional  secret  that  can  be  im- 
parted to  the  beginner. 

Put  the  point  of  your  whole  story  into  the  first 
sentence,  and  the  shorter  the  sentence  the  better. 
Whether  the  story  be  two  columns  or  two  inches  long, 
cram  the  marrow  of  it  into  the  first  paragraph.  Ban- 
ish the  school-essay  idea  that  there  must  be  an  intro- 
duction or  preliminary  explanation  of  any  kind.  Put 
your  best,  strongest,  most  startling  statement  first,  and 

59 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

follow  it  with  a  few  other  brief  sentences  summing  up 
the  whole  matter,  so  that  the  rest  of  the  article  might 
be  "  killed  "  and  the  story  still  would  be  "  covered." 
Every  newspaper  report  should  answer  the  questions, 
"What?  Who?  Where?  When?  Why?"  and 
should  do  it  in  the  first  paragraph  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible. This  is  the  first  and  greatest  commandment  in 
the  matter  of  journalistic  style,  and  the  penalty  for 
breaking  it  is  the  waste-basket  and  swift  oblivion. 

Such  is  the  rule  now  followed,  avowedly  or  un- 
consciously, by  all  the  larger  newspapers  in  the  United 
States.  One  rarely  hears  it  formulated,  even  by  a  city 
editor,  but  every  young  reporter  has  it  borne  in  upon 
him  with  painful  distinctness  as  soon  as  he  begins  sub- 
mitting manuscript  to  the  copy  reader.  The  mode  of 
applying  the  rule  may  and  must  be  varied  in  a  hun- 
dred ways  so  as  to  avoid  stereotyped  forms,  but  the 
principle  is  no  less  important  for  that  reason.  Some- 
times a  story  may  be  begun  effectively  with  a  bright 
bit  of  dialogue,  followed  immediately  with  a  con- 
densed statement  of  the  whole  matter  to  be  covered 
by  the  article.  It  is  difficult  to  formulate  any  steady 
rules  for  so  unsteady  and  unruly  a  thing  as  the  Amer- 
ican newspaper,  whose  main  object  in  life  apparently 
is  to  be  different  to-day  from  what  it  was  yesterday, 
but  this  rule  of  putting  the  newest  and  most  striking 
facts  in  the  first  sentences  of  a  story  is  one  to  which 
the  beginner  can  not  tie  too  securely.  Lack  of  knowl- 
edge of  this  simple  law  of  journalism  will  account  for 
the  failure  of  many  would-be  reporters.  It  also  will 
account  for  the  frequent  rejection  of  news  stories  con- 
tributed by  well-educated  outsiders,  such  as  clergy- 
men or  school-teachers.  Every  person  who  expects 
ever  to  write  anything  for  a  newspaper  will  be  the 
gainer  by  realizing  the  facts  here  stated. 

60 


PLAN   OF   A   NEWS   STORY 

The  usual  mistake  is  to  begin  the  story  at  the 
chronological  beginning  instead  of  at  the  point  of 
greatest  interest.  Another  error  is  to  forget  to  men- 
tion one  of  the  three  essentials — the  actors,  the  place, 
and  the  time.  The  beginner  can  not  go  far  wrong 
if  he  gets  these  three  things  into  his  first  sentence 
and  the  nub  of  the  whole  story  into  his  first  para- 
graph. 

If  some  poor  woman  has  been  abused  by  her  hus- 
band, thrown  out  on  the  street,  and,  after  struggling 
for  weeks  against  poverty  and  disgrace,  finally  suc- 
cumbs to  her  load  of  sorrow  and  ends  the  tragedy  of 
her  life  by  suicide,  it  is  this  last  most  startling  fact 
that  should  make  the  first  sentence.  "  Mrs.  Eliphalet 
Jones  committed  suicide  by  taking  poison  last  even- 
ing on  the  steps  of  her  former  home  in  Kaiser  Street." 
Don't  begin  back  at  her  marriage  or  at  the  time  when 
her  husband  first  began  his  cruelty,  as  you  would  and 
should  in  an  oration  or  a  tale  of  fiction.  Tell  the 
whole  story  of  the  tragedy  and  its  causes  in  the  first 
half-dozen  lines.  Then  begin  a  new  paragraph  and 
give  the  narrative  in  such  detail  as  the  space  allows, 
taking  care,  wherever  possible,  to  put  the  best  and 
freshest  matter  to  the  front,  and  to  crowd  the  parts  of 
the  story  already  known  into  the  background  toward 
the  end  of  the  article.  When  a  story  has  appeared 
in  the  evening  papers  it  must  be  put  into  another 
form  in  the  morning  papers  than  that  which  would 
have  been  called  for  if  the  matter  had  been  entirely 
new. 

Two  potent  causes  have  cast  the  American  news- 
paper article  into  this  form.  One  is  the  tremendous 
volume  of  news  demanding  a  place  in  the  press ;  the 
other  is  the  wish  to  catch  the  eye  of  the  reader,  fix  his 
attention,  and  give  him  a  chance  to  get  the  gist  of  the 
6  61 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

story  at  a  glance  if  he  has  not  the  time  or  desire  to 
go  into  details. 

The  more  nearly  any  newspaper,  large  or  small, 
can  follow  this  style  in  the  construction  of  its  news 
stories  and  of  its  head-lines,  the  more  likely  it  will 
be  to  succeed.  It  is  a  plan  that  never  can  be  im- 
proved upon  for  suiting  the  purposes  of  the  hurried 
business  man,  who  has  only  twenty  or  thirty  minutes  a 
day  to  give  to  newspapers,  and  yet  is  anxious  to  keep 
the  run  of  the  world's  events.  A  knowledge  of  this 
one  professional  secret  often  will  give  the  editor  of 
a  country  daily  an  advantage  that  will  enable  him  to 
outstrip  all  rivals  in  his  field.  This  is  especially  likely 
to  be  true  in  a  hustling  Western  town  where  news- 
paper readers  are  kept  constantly  in  mind  of  the  fact 
that  time  is  .money.  They  have  not  the  time  to  waste 
over  news  that  is  thrown  together  in  the  old  and 
cumbrous  style  and  served  up  with  head-lines  that  tell 
practically  nothing.  No  large  paper  can  succeed  now 
with  incorrect  methods  of  serving  the  news.  All  the 
towns  of  fair  size  in  which  this  method  has  not  been 
applied  form  an  inviting  field  for  starting  new  and 
up-to-date  journals. 

The  multiplicity  of  interests  demanding  represen- 
tation in  the  modern  newspaper  also  has  aided  in 
evolving  this  typical  Yankee  newspaper  style.  It  is 
necessary  to  be  able  to  "  boil  down  "  everything,  often 
at  a  moment's  notice.  It  is  imperative  that  all  matter 
be  put  into  a  shape  allowing  of  quick  condensation, 
even  after  it  is  in  type.  This  inverted  pyramid  form 
— this  trick  of  serving  the  dessert  first  and  the  soup 
last — meets  the  requirements  of  the  case.  When  some 
unexpected  and  important  event  demands  several  col- 
umns in  a  paper  already  full  to  the  last  line,  the  editor 
can  make  room  simply  by  killing  the  last  paragraphs 

62 


PLAN   OF   A   NEWS   STORY 

of  the  other  stories  instead  of  having  to  rewrite  every- 
thing in  more  condensed  form  or  to  throw  out  whole 
articles. 

Many  a  young  reporter  and  out-of-town  corre- 
spondent suffers  frequent  and  bitter  disappointment 
before  he  learns  the  proper  form  for  a  news  story  by 
hard  experience.  Some  severe  lessons  usually  are 
necessary,  too,  before  he  realizes  the  importance  of 
getting  his  copy  in  early.  When  he  has  learned  these 
two  things  he  is  well  on  the  way  to  become  a  success- 
ful newspaper  man.  Until  he  has  learned  them  his 
copy  will  be  slaughtered  mercilessly.  The  best  of 
copy,  when  received  late,  has  chances  none  too  good. 
Copy  that  is  both  late  and  badly  put  together  has 
no  chance  of  publication  at  all.  Getting  -the  news,  of 
course,  is  the  first  requisite  for  success.  It  is  better 
to  print  an  important  story  in  the  crudest  shape  than 
to  spend  too  much  time  trying  to  write  it  correctly, 
but  no  man  can  prosper  as  a  reporter  until  he  learns 
the  art  of  throwing  a  story  into  the  proper  form  swiftly 
and  almost  instinctively. 

This  is  as  good  a  place  as  any  for  recording  a  mul- 
titude of  minor  mechanical  points  that  must  be  ob- 
served in  preparing  all  kinds  of  manuscripts  for  the 
press.  Many  of  the  directions  are  elementary  and  will 
be  familiar  to  the  majority  of  people  who  read  this 
book,  but  even  the  simplest  of  these  rules  is  liable  to 
be  violated  by  beginners.  The  points  mentioned 
should  be  mastered  so  thoroughly  that  the  right 
method  in  each  case  will  be  followed  without  giving 
it  a  thought. 

Never  write  on  both  sides  of  the  paper  when  wri- 
ting for  publication — not  even  if  you  have  to  use  a 
new  sheet  for  the  last  half-dozen  words.  In  daily 

63 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

newspaper  offices  each  page  of  copy  is  cut  into  shoi  1 
pieces  or  "  takes,"  and  the  takes  are  numbered  cor  • 
secutively  and  given  to  as  many  different  compositor;., 
Imagine  the  mixture  a  foreman  would  have  on  his 
hands  if  he  undertook  to  cut  up  copy  written  on  botn 
sides.  A  part  of  each  man's  take  would  be  on  the 
back  of  some  other  printer's  copy. 

The  best  size  of  paper  for  copy  is  about  six  by 
nine  inches.  Unruled  print  paper  of  about  that  size 
and  of  sufficient  firmness  to  allow  the  use  of  either 
ink  or  pencil  usually  is  furnished  gratis  in  newspaper 
offices.  It  may  "be  bought  cheaply  at  any  paper 
house. 

Copy  written  with  a  pencil  is  perfectly  acceptable 
if  the  manuscript  be  clear  and  the  pencil  soft  and 
black.  Editors  dislike  dim  writing,  whether  in  pencil 
or  ink.  Reporters  usually  use  a  soft  pencil  or  a  coarse 
pen.  In  nearly  all  large  newspaper  offices  now,  how- 
ever, every  reporter  is  supplied  with  a  typewriting 
machine  and  is  expected  to  make  his  copy  on  that 
whenever  possible.  The  reporter  of  the  future  must 
know  how  to  operate  the  typewriter.  The  outside 
contributor  will  do  well  to  have  his  article  typewritten 
if  he  can  do  so  conveniently.  It  will  still  have  a  fair 
chance,  however,  if  it  be  written  in  a  perfectly  legible; 
hand  with  ink  or  pencil. 

In  manuscript  it  often  is  wise  to  print  out  proper 
names  or  unusual  words,  letter  by  letter,  in  order  to 
keep  the  typesetter  from  making  mistakes.  If  a  name 
is  worth  printing,  it  is  worth  printing  correctly.  Noth- 
ing lowers  a  man's  estimate  of  a  newspaper  more 
quickly  than  to  see  his  name  misspelled  in  it. 

Illegible  copy  deserves  the  handicap  that  always 
rests  upon  it.  It  comes  under  the  inexorable  law  of 
the  non-survival  of  the  unfit.  It  is  an  imposition  upon 

64 


PLAN   OF   A    NEWS   STORY 

the  editor,  who  has  to  puzzle  over  it,  and  still  more 
upon  the  compositor,  whose  wages  it  reduces.  There 
is  a  prevalent  idea  that  a  printer  can  decipher  anything 
short  of  a  cuneiform  inscription.  It  is  true  that  an 
old  printer  can  make  sense  out  of  scrawls  which  a  self- 
respecting  business  man  would  not  pretend  to  read; 
but  it  is  also  true  that  it  takes  much  time  and  often 
considerable  profanity  to  do  it,  and  after  it  is  done  the 
author  is  not  unlikely  to  consider  the  translation  pain- 
fully free.  Mistakes  enough  creep  into  the  printed 
page  without  adding  to  them  by  means  of  blind  wri- 
ting. The  satisfaction  of  having  your  matter  printed 
with  a  minimum  of  errors  is  in  itself  a  sufficient  re- 
ward for  learning  to  use  the  typewriter. 

Don't  be  stingy  of  paper.  Leave  a  margin  of 
about  an  inch  at  the  tops  of  pages  and  of  a  half  or 
three-quarters  of  an  inch  at  the  left-hand  side  and  at 
the  bottom.  The  top  margin  is  needed  because  the 
pages  are  pasted  together,  one  sheet  after  another, 
before  the  copy  is  cut  for  the  printer.  The  other  mar- 
gins afford  the  copy  reader  room  for  making  correc- 
tions. Leave  at  least  one-eighth  of  an  inch  between 
the  lines.  Try  to  get  about  the  same  number  of 
words  on  all  the  pages,  so  that  the  editor  can  estimate 
the  length  of  the  article  from  the  number  of  sheets. 

Be  sure  to  number  your  pages.  The  folio  figure 
usually  is  placed  in  the  middle  at  the  top  of  the  page, 
with  a  quarter  of  a  circle  under  it  to  prevent  its  being 
mistaken  for  a  part  of  the  article. 

Draw  a  small  dash  under  the  end  of  your  story 
to  show  that  there  is  no  more  to  follow. 

Let  the  sheets  remain  flat,  if  possible.  Folding, 
especially  crosswise,  makes  them  inconvenient  to  han- 
dle. If  the  copy  is  to  be  sent  by  mail,  and  if  it  is  not 

65 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

convenient  to  enclose  it  flat  between  sheets  of  card- 
board, it  is  allowable  to  fold  the  sheets  lengthwise.  A 
long  envelope  to  contain  copy  in  that  shape  always 
can  be  secured  at  the  post-office.  Never  pin  the  sheets 
together.  Pins  betray  the  novice.  Above  all,  do  not 
roll  the  sheets.  This  is  not  only  because  a  rolled 
package  is  liable  to  become  mixed  with  the  newspa- 
pers in  the  mail  and  go  astray  or  be  delayed,  but  be- 
cause copy  once  rolled  can  never  be  made  flat  again, 
and  is  a  nuisance  to  all  who  handle  it. 

If  a  letter  to  the  editor  is  enclosed  with  the  copy 
it  should  be  on  a  separate  sheet,  of  course.  Letters 
of  this  kind  should  be  brief,  or  they  will  do  more  harm 
than  good.  There  is  no  need  to  tell  the  editor  that 
you  think  the  article  is  worth  its  weight  in  gold.  He 
will  decide  its  merits  for  himself.  That  is  what  he  is 
paid  for,  and  his  conscience  would  trouble  him  if  he 
did  not  earn  his  salary.  Don't  tell  him  you  have  just 
dashed  off  this  production  at  a  moment's  notice. 
Probably  he  would  prefer  to  have  something  that  re- 
quired a  little  thought.  Don't  write  to  say  that  you 
hope  he  will  buy  the  article  because  you  need  the 
money  very  much.  It  will  not  improve  your  chances 
of  fame  to  say  that  you  are  starving,  or  maimed,  or  halt, 
or  blind,  or  are  trying  to  support  a  large  family.  The 
editor's  own  position  depends  upon  the  merits  of  the 
articles  he  prints.  He  will  not  print  a  poor  article  and 
injure  his  own  reputation  for  the  asking.  He  prefers 
to  do  his  charity  work  in  other  ways.  In  short,  there 
is  little  that  the  would-be  contributor  can  say  in  a 
letter  to  the  editor.  In  the  majority  of  cases  it  is  as 
well  to  omit  the  letter  altogether  and  simply  write 
your  name  and  address  in  the  upper  right-hand 
corner  of  the  first  sheet  of  your  copy,  enclosing 
the  necessary  stamps  for  the  return  of  the  manu- 


PLAN   OF   A    NEWS   STORY 

script  if  not  used.  Every  editor  will  understand  what 
is  wanted. 

A  few  corrections  on  your  copy  will  not  injure  it, 
but  in  making  any  considerable  addition  it  is  better  to 
cut  the  sheet  and  paste  in  the  new  lines  than  to  inter- 
line or  write  the  additions  on  the  margin.  When  a 
leaf  has  been  lengthened  in  this  way  it  may  be  brought 
to  the  same  length  as  the  other  sheets  by  folding  the 
lower  edge  forward  upon  the  writing.  If  it  be  folded 
backward  it  is  liable  to  be  overlooked  and  to  cause  an 
omission  on  the  part  of  the  printer. 

If  an  article  is  to  be  illustrated,  proofs  of  the  cuts 
should  be  pasted  on  the  copy  as  near  as  possible  to 
the  places  where  they  are  to  be  inserted.  If  no  proof 
of  the  picture  can  be  secured,  leave  a  square  space 
in  the  manuscript  and  write  in  it  the  word  "  Cut,"  with 
the  title  that  is  to  go  under  the  picture. 

It  is  best  not  to  venture  upon  many  abbreviations 
in  your  copy  until  you  learn  how  far  they  are  allow- 
able. The  coming  of  the  typewriter  has  created  a 
tendency  to  write  all  words  out  in  full.  In  manuscript, 
however,  it  is  allowable  to  write  the  abbreviation  for 
"  and  "  with  a  semicircle  under  and  half  enclosing  it. 
This  circling  of  any  abbreviated  word  indicates  that  it 
is  to  be  spelled  out  in  full.  Many  newspaper  men 
enclose  the  abbreviation  in  a  complete  circle. 

As  the  dot  or  period  is  hard  to  distinguish  from 
the  comma  in  manuscript,  it  has  become  the  custom  to 
enclose  the  period  in  a  small  circle,  or  to  substitute  a 
small  cross  for  the  ordinary  dot  indicating  a  full  stop. 

Be  sure  to  indent  the  first  line  of  each  paragraph. 
Write  the  first  word  at  least  an  inch  farther  to  the 
right  than  the  beginning  of  the  rest  of  the  lines. 
Nothing  will  give  a  slovenly  look  to  a  manuscript 
more  quickly  than  beginning  its  paragraphs  flush  with 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

the  left-hand  edge.  The  compositor  detests  this  kind 
of  irregularity,  for  he  can  not  be  sure  whether  he 
should  make  a  paragraph  in  the  type  or  not.  To 
avoid  all  such  doubts  most  newspaper  men  make  a 
paragraph  mark  (|)  at  the  beginning  or  at  the  end  of 
each  paragraph,  or  in  both  places  if  there  is  the  least 
chance  of  misunderstanding.  This  mark  is  necessary, 
for  instance,  when  the  end  of  a  paragraph  happens  to 
come  at  the  end  of  a  sheet,  with  a  full  line.  The 
printer  getting  this  sheet  would  not  know,  in  the 
absence  of  such  a  mark,  whether  to  end  with  a  broken 
line  or  not. 

The  beginner  will  have  little  trouble  in  paragraph- 
ing his  matter  if  he  will  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that 
every  paragraph  is  a  little  article  in  itself,  and  might 
have  a  separate  head-line.  The  present  one,  for  in- 
stance, might  be  entitled  "  How  to  Paragraph  Mat- 
ter." It  is  true  that  different  persons  will  subdivide 
the  same  article  differently,  but  the  beginner  can  not 
go  far  wrong  if  he  makes  a  new  paragraph  each  time 
he  makes  a  new  point  in  the  argument.  It  is  better 
to  make  too  many  paragraphs  than  too  few.  In 
newspaper  work  it  is  well  never  to  let  a  paragraph 
be  longer  than  200  words.  In  writing  dialogue,  make 
a  new  paragraph  every  time  there  is  a  change  of 
speakers. 

If  you  have  forgotten  to  make  a  paragraph  where 
there  should  be  one,  all  that  is  necessary  to  have  it 
set  in  type  correctly  is  to  write  a  paragraph  mark  at 
the  point  in  question.  If  you  have  made  a  paragraph 
where  there  should  be  none,  make  a  "  run-in  "  mark — 
a  curving  line  connecting  the  end  of  one  sentence  with 
the  beginning  of  the  next.  Use  the  same  mark  when 
you  have  canceled  several  words  or  sentences,  thus 
bridging  the  break.  When  a  paragraph  has  been 

68 


PLAN    OF   A    NEWS   STORY 

made  by  mistake  at  the  top  or  bottom  of  a  page,  run 
a  line  out  from  the  beginning  or  end  of  the  sentence, 
as  the  case  may  be,  to  the  edge  of  the  paper.  This 
means  "  Make  even,"  and  the  printer  will  make  no 
paragraph  there. 

If  you  have  canceled  a  word  or  sentence  and  after- 
ward rue  the  cancellation,  put  a  line  of  dots  under  the 
words  that  you  wish  to  restore,  and  write  on  the  mar- 
gin the  word  "  Stet."  This  means  "  Let  it  stand,"  and 
every  printer  is  enough  of  a  Latin  scholar  to  compre- 
hend it. 

When  writing  in  dialect,  or  in  quoting  a  misspelled 
passage  which  you  wish  to  have  printed  just  as  writ- 
ten, put  on  the  margin  the  words  "  Follow  copy." 
The  same  should  be  done  when  you  wish  to  preserve  a 
peculiarity  of  capitalization  or  punctuation  differing 
from  the  style  of  the  office  to  which  the  manuscript  is 
going. 

Divide  words  only  at  the  ends  of  syllables.  Avoid 
the  division  of  a  word  at  the  end  of  a  page.  Also 
avoid  running  the  last  words  of  a  paragraph  over  to 
the  top  of  a  new  page ;  it  vexes  and  inconveniences  the 
printer.  It  is  better  to  crowd  the  writing  a  little  at  the 
bottom  of  the  page  in  order  to  make  room  for  the  few 
extra  words. 

One  line  drawn  under  a  word  shows  that  it  is  to 
be  set  in  Italic  type;  two  lines,  that  it  is  to  be  set  in 
SMALL  CAPS  ;  and  three  lines,  in  CAPS  or  full  capital 
letters.  The  tendency  now  is  to  avoid  Italics  and  small 
caps  as  much  as  possible.  Most  newspapers  have 
abandoned  their  use  altogether,  because  there  are  usu- 
ally no  Italic  letters  in  the  linotype  machine.  This 
fact  sometimes  requires  a  slight  change  in  the  word- 
ing of  a  sentence  in  which  Italics  might  have  been 
used  to  make  the  meaning  clear.  Even  in  magazine 

69 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

and  book-work  it  is  best  to  use  Italics  as  sparingly  as 
possible.  The  constant  underscoring  of  words  to  de- 
note emphasis  is  out  of  date  and  counts  against  the 
writer  who  does  it.  If  a  word  has  been  begun  with 
a  small  letter  when  it  should  be  capitalized,  draw  three 
short  lines  under  the  letter,  and  the  printer  will  make 
it  a  capital. 

The  disuse  of  Italics  in  newspaper  work  has  thrown 
a  new  burden  on  the  overworked  quotation  marks. 
These,  too,  can  be  misused.  The  quoting  of  words  to 
emphasize  them  is  a  mark  of  rusticity.  It  often  is  nec- 
essary to  quote  strange  words,  or  ordinary  words  em- 
ployed in  an  unusual  sense,  but  an  excessive  use  of  the 
inverted  commas  is  annoying  to  any  intelligent  reader. 
The  proper  rule  in  this  matter  is  to  use  quotation 
marks  only  where  the  sense  is  not  clear  without  them, 
or  where  they  enclose  the  actual  words  of  a  new 
speaker.  There  is  no  need  either  to  quote  or  to  Itali- 
cize the  names  of  magazines,  newspapers,  or  ships. 
It  is  the  almost  universal  custom  to  enclose  in  quota- 
tion marks  the  titles  of  books,  songs,  or  dramas ;  also 
the  titles  of  articles  or  stories  when  referred  to  in  the 
text. 

But  every  well-regulated  office  has  rules  of  its  own 
regarding  quotation  marks,  Italics,  capitalization,  and 
a  hundred  other  minor  points.  These  rules  constitute 
what  is  known  as  the  paper's  "  style,"  and  one  of  the 
many  revelations  that  come  to  the  new  recruit  in  jour- 
nalism is  the  amazing  diversity  of  "  style."  One 
paper  may  capitalize  a  liberal  percentage  of  all  the 
nouns  in  the  language,  while  another  may  capitalize 
scarcely  anything  but  its  own  name,  and  perhaps  that 
of  the  Deity.  But  these  minor  matters  need  not  trou- 
ble the  beginner  until  he  has  a  place  on  the  staff  of 
some  paper.  The  printer  and  proof-reader  will  attend 

70 


PLAN   OF   A   NEWS   STORY 

to  capitalizing  words  according  to  the  style  of  the 
office,  no  matter  how  they  may  be  written  in  the 
manuscript. 

In  an  article  over  your  own  name  use  "  I "  when 
you  mean  "  I,"  and  not  "  your  humble  servant,"  or 
"  the  scribe/'  or  any  other  stilted  phrase  of  that  kind. 
In  unsigned  newspaper  work  it  sometimes  becomes 
necessary  to  use  the  phrase  "  the  editor,"  or  "  the  re- 
porter," or  "  the  correspondent,"  though  it  is  well  to 
avoid  the  use  of  such  expressions  when  possible. 
Usage  does  not  sanction  the  "  I "  in  an  unsigned 
newspaper  article  when  referring  to  the  writer,  but 
good  taste  long  ago  condemned  the  "  we  "  for  that 
purpose.  The  much-abused  "  editorial  we,"  even  on 
the  editorial  page,  is  going  out  of  use. 

The  most  frequent  and  troublesome  fault  with 
young  writers  is  a  tendency  to  use  too  many  words. 
The  writer  who  learns  to  compress  the  most  meaning 
into  the  fewest  and  shortest  words  has  the  best  chance 
of  success.  When  you  have  expressed  one  idea  clearly 
and  tersely,  go  on  to  the  next.  Above  all  things,  stop 
when  you  have  done.  Avoid  "  fine  writing,"  oddities 
of  style,  grotesque  phrases,  and  obsolete  words.  Af- 
fectations and  Carlyleisms  are  useless  even  in  literary 
work,  but  in  newspaper  work  they  are  intolerable. 
A  clear  and  easy  style  alone  can  gain  success  in  jour- 
nalism. Avoid  parentheses  and  parenthetical  expres- 
sions; two  short  sentences  are  better  than  one  long 
sentence  with  a  parenthesis  in  the  middle.  Learn  to 
be  direct.  Plunge  into  the  midst  of  things  and  go 
straight  to  the  point. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  give  in  brief  what  seem  to 
me  the  most  important  rules  for  success  in  journal- 
ism. For  the  last  three  commandments  in  the  fol- 
lowing "  decalogue  "  I  am  indebted  to  an  experienced 

71 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

managing  editor,  Mr.  Charles  H.  Dennis,  of  the  Chi- 
cago Daily  News. 

THE  REPORTER'S  DECALOGUE 

1.  Put  the  pith  and  point  of  each  story  into  the  first 
paragraph. 

2.  Try  always  to  cram  as  much  meaning  as  possible  into 
the  fewest  words  compatible  with  clearness.    Never  write 
a  sentence  that  must  be  read  twice  before  it  can  be  under- 
stood. 

3.  Put  no  editorial  comments  or  debatable  statements 
into  news  matter.    Keep  your  personal  likes  and  dislikes 
out  of  your  copy. 

4.  Try  never  to  let  a  rival  score  a  "  beat "  against  you, 
yet  betoare  of  hasty  and  unconfirmed  statements,  especially 
if  a  fyJnnay  lurk  in  them. 

5.  Strive  always   for  accuracy,  and  scorn  a  "  fake." 
When  a  story  is  doubtful,  get  other  versions  of  it.    Most 
newspaper  errors  are  due  to  the  fact  that  the  reporter  has 
heard  only  one  witness. 

6.  Don't  neglect  to  read  your  paper  every  day,  including 
the  editorials.    Go  through  your  own  work  and  try  to  see 
how  you  might  have  improved  it. 

7.  Never  break  a  promise.    Make  no  promises  that  you 
may  not  be  able  to  keep. 

8.  Be  industrious.    Obey  orders  implicitly  at  all  times, 
if  you  can  do  so  with  honor. 

9.  Respect  your  business.    Meet  every  man  frankly  and 
fearlessly.    Never  apologize  for  being  a  reporter;  it  is  a 
great  and  honorable  calling.     On  the  other  hand,  do  not 
regard  yourself  as  entitled  to  peculiar  favors  because  of 
your  position. 

10.  Respect   yourself.      Cultivate    good   habits,    good 
health,  good  morals,  good  manners.    Aim  high. 


VI 

HOW  THE  NEWS  IS  GATHERED 

FEW  people  who  read  the  Associated  Press  news 
every  day  in  their  favorite  papers  understand  the  exact 
nature  of  that  organization  or  realize  its  scope.  It  is 
the  greatest  agency  in  the  world  for  gathering  and  dis- 
tributing news.  It  dates  its  life  back  to  within  four 
years  of  the  advent  of  the  telegraph,  which  alone  makes 
its  existence  possible.  It  is  of  purely  American  origin 
and  is  still  the  largest  organization  of  its  kind,  though 
it  now  has  its  counterpart  in  every  civilized  country  in 
the  world.  By  affiliation  with  these  foreign  associa- 
tions it  is  able  to  give  its  patrons  the  news  not  only  of 
the  United  States,  but  of  the  whole  world,  every  day. 
Practically  every  large  daily  in  this  country  now  gets 
most  of  its  telegraphic  news  through  the  Associated 
Press,  though  every  leading  paper  also  has  a  complete 
corps  of  domestic  and  foreign  correspondents  besides. 

Like  most  other  useful  things,  the  Associated 
Press  is  the  result  of  evolution.  Toward  the  end  of 
the  year  1848  the  publishers  of  competing  dailies  in 
New  York  city  entered  into  an  agreement  to  obtain 
certain  kinds  of  news  at  their  common  expense  and 
for  their  common  benefit.  In  conjunction  with  papers 
in  other  cities  they  appointed  a  joint  agent  at  each 
important  point  to  collect  the  news  for  the  use  of  this 
cooperative  association,  which  was  called  the  New 
York  Associated  Press.  The  papers  all  agreed  to 

73 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

exchange  certain  kinds  of  news  with  each  other  every 
day.  Thus  the  papers  in  different  towns  each  received 
the  benefit  of  the  local  news-gathering  facilities  of  all 
the  others.  In  the  larger  towns  the  association  had  to 
have  special  agents  to  forward  the  news  thus  collected, 
while  in  the  smaller  places  the  editors  themselves  often 
attended  to  putting  their  share  of  the  day's  news  on 
the  wire.  This  plan  of  cooperation  soon  proved  to  be 
a  great  success.  Outside  papers  either  sought  to  be- 
come members  or  else  they  bought  news  of  the  asso- 
ciation to  keep  abreast  of  the  times. 

Soon  other  associations  of  the  same  kind  sprang  up 
in  other  parts  of  the  country,  each  paying  tribute  to 
the  New  York  Associated  Press  and  exchanging  news 
with  it.  Thus  the  New  York  concern  became  the 
clearing-house  for  the  news  of  the  country  and  of  the 
world.  Powerful  as  this  confederation  was,  it  was 
strongly  opposed  for  many  years  by  a  rival  concern, 
the  United  Press.  There  was  also  friction  within  the 
Associated  Press  circles.  The  Western  Associated 
Press,  which  was  organized  in  1865,  wearied  of  play- 
ing a  subordinate  part  and  demanded  an  equal  voice 
with  the  New  York  concern  in  determining  the  char- 
acter of  the  news  to  be  gathered.  In  1882  the  West- 
ern association  severed  its  connection  with  the  New 
York  papers,  sent  its  own  agents  to  London  and  to 
Washington,  and  began  a  competitive  service.  The 
Eastern  organization  was  forced  to  come  to  terms  and 
a  combination  resulted.  Ten  years  later  a  complete 
consolidation  followed,  with  the  organizing  of  the  As- 
sociated Press  under  an  Illinois  charter  as  a  concern 
of  national  scope.  An  Illinois  Supreme  Court  deci- 
sion compelling  it  to  give  its  service  to  any  newspaper 
that  demanded  it  caused  a  reincorporation  under  the 
laws  of  New  York  in  1900. 

74 


HOW   THE   NEWS   IS   GATHERED 

The  whole  process  of  evolution  from  a  local  enter- 
prise to  a  national  monopoly  is  strangely  similar  to 
that  through  which  some  of  our  manufacturing  indus- 
tries went  a  little  later.  There  is  this  important  dif- 
ference, however,  that  the  Associated  Press  is  not 
organized  to  pay  dividends.  Its  stock  is  held  by  many 
persons,  none  of  whom  may  hold  more  than  eight 
shares,  and  each  of  whom  must  be  the  proprietor  of 
a  paper  which  agrees  to  turn  its  own  news  into  the 
common  fund  for  the  use  of  members  in  other  towns. 
It  is  the  greatest  cooperative  enterprise  in  the  business 
world. 

The  general  manager  of  the  Associated  Press,  who 
gets  a  salary  of  $15,000  a  year,  has  his  headquarters  in 
Chicago.  The  assistant  general  manager  is  in  New 
York.  The  whole  country  is  apportioned  into  divi- 
sions, each  in  charge  of  a  superintendent.  There  are 
about  650  salaried  employees  of  the  Associated  Press, 
and  probably  about  the  same  number  of  men  "  on 
space  "  who  are  scattered  all  over  the  country.  At 
each  point  where  there  is  a  paper  there  is  also  a  sal- 
aried or  unsalaried  representative  of  the  association 
who  puts  the  news  in  shape  and  files  it.  The  concern 
has  an  enormous  network  of  leased  telegraph-wires 
covering  the  whole  country.  Its  day  wires  aggregate 
9,300  miles  and  its  night  wires  20,400  miles.  The  As- 
sociated Press  now  has  about  700  members.  It  also 
serves  about  2,500  papers  with  its  minor  or  "  pony  " 
report. 

The  method  by  which  this  great  cooperative  sys- 
tem works  is  simple  in  principle.  The  Associated 
Press  papers  of  Cincinnati,  for  instance,  gather  the 
news  of  the  city  and  of  the  surrounding  country 
through  their  reporters  and  special  correspondents. 
The  Associated  Press  agents  have  access  to  the  proofs 

75 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

of  these  papers,  and  pick  out  all  news  items  that  are 
likely  to  be  of  interest  in  other  States.  The  Cin- 
cinnati agent  sends  his  budget  to  Chicago,  to  New 
York,  and  to  other  distributing  centers.  From  Chi- 
cago it  is  sent  on  to  St.  Louis,  and  in  more  con- 
densed form  to  San  Francisco.  At  the  same  time 
the  Cincinnati  papers  are  receiving  similar  budgets 
from  all  the  other  cities  of  the  United  States.  The 
largest  news  centers,  of  course,  are  New  York  and 
Washington,  the  financial  and  political  capitals.  The 
Associated  Press  has  a  resident  bureau  in  each  of 
these  cities.  All  the  news  is  poured  into  the  main 
artery  of  the  leased  wire  system,  and  at  various  points 
along  this  artery  the  report  is  sluiced  off  to  interior 
cities. 

In  the  larger  cities  the  Associated  Press  has  its 
own  telegraph  operators,  who  make  carbon  copies  of 
the  news  on  tissue-paper  or  "  flimsy,"  as  it  is  called ; 
this  is  delivered  to  the  various  offices  by  a  pneumatic 
tube  system,  which  shoots  it  underground,  often  a 
distance  of  half  a  mile  or  more,  and  up  to  the  tele- 
graph room  in  each  newspaper  building.  The  Asso- 
ciated Press  daily  receives  and  transmits  at  Chicago 
and  other  central  points  no  less  than  50,000  words,  or 
35  columns  of  ordinary  newspaper  print.  Of  course 
no  paper  prints  the  whole  of  this  mass  of  news,  but  it 
is  edited  in  every  office  to  suit  the  ideals  and  exi- 
gencies of  each.  The  annual  cost  of  this  service  is 
nearly  $2,000,000,  which  is  paid  by  assessments  on  the 
members  holding  Associated  Press  franchises. 

Nearly  every  large  city  has  a  local  press  associa- 
tion of  its  own  which  gathers  minor  kinds  of  routine 
news  for  all  the  papers  of  the  city.  The  Associated 
Press  has  alliances  with  many  such  local  associations. 
In  like  manner  it  has  close  and  constant  relations  with 


HOW   THE    NEWS   IS   GATHERED 

all  the  leading  foreign  associations — the  Reuter,  Ha- 
vas,  Wolf,  and  others,  which  cover  Europe  from  Lon- 
don and  Stockholm  to  Rome  and  Constantinople. 
The  mode  of  operation  between  nations  is  similar  to 
that  between  cities  in  this  country.  For  instance,  the 
Stefanie  agency  gathers  all  the  news  of  Italy  into 
Rome  and  distributes  it  to  the  different  cities  of  Italy. 
Then  it  sends  its  budget  of  news  to  Paris  and  to  Lon- 
don, receiving  from  these  places  similar  budgets  in 
return,  which  it  also  distributes  over  Italy. 

All  the  news  that  comes  into  Rome  or  Berlin  or 
London  is  looked  over  by  an  Associated  Press  agent 
at  each  of  those  points,  who  selects  what  he  thinks  the 
American  people  will  want  to  read  and  cables  it  to 
New  York,  whence  it  is  distributed  all  over  the  United 
States.  In  the  same  way  the  European  agencies  have 
their  men  in  the  Associated  Press  office  at  New  York, 
looking  over  the  American  budget  and  sending  abroad 
whatever  may  be  of  interest  to  Europeans.  By  this 
means  there  is  a  perfect  system  of  exchange  of  news 
all  over  the  world. 

From  this  sketch  of  the  elaborate  modern  ma- 
chinery for  gathering  telegraphic  news  it  will  be  ap- 
parent that  the  Associated  Press  may  wield  an  enor- 
mous power.  In  unscrupulous  hands  it  might  be  used 
to  turn  elections,  to  aid  stock-jobbing  schemes,  or  to 
ruin  reputations.  But  it  is  remarkably  free  from  any 
such  abuse,  largely  because  of  its  great  scope  and 
its  cooperative  nature.  It  serves  papers  of  all  political 
parties  and  of  all  shades  of  belief  on  every  conceiv- 
able question.  This  makes  it  imperative  that  the 
Associated  Press  news  be  entirely  free  of  partizan 
coloring.  Its  reporters  and  agents  are  under  strict 
Instructions  to  give  the  facts  without  religious  or  polit- 
ical bias,  no  matter  what  their  own  beliefs  may  be. 
7  77 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

They  must  report  a  prize-fight  or  a  Christian  En- 
deavor convention  with  equal  absence  of  comment. 
Special  advocacy  belongs  only  in  the  editorial  columns 
of  the  individual  papers. 

The  Associated  Press  deals  in  news  as  a  profes- 
sional shipper  might  deal  in  wheat  or  corn.  It  handles 
50,000  words  daily  as  dispassionately  as  the  shipper 
handles  so  many  bushels  of  grain.  Its  influence  in 
eliminating  the  partizan  bias  from  the  news  columns 
of  American  papers  has  been  tremendous  and  is  still 
at  work.  Its  only  concern  is  with  the  truth  of  the 
news  it  sends,  and  its  statements  are  usually  reliable. 
Its  methods  are  worthy  of  study  at  the  hands  of  the 
would-be  journalist. 

Access  to  the  ranks  of  the  Associated  Press  work- 
ers is  through  the  same  door  as  that  into  the  metro- 
politan daily  office — through  the  press  of  the  smaller 
towns  and  cities.  The  work  of  gathering  this  mass 
of  telegraphic  news  is  done  chiefly  by  the  local  staffs 
of  the  papers  throughout  the  country,  and  it  is  in  the 
local  room  that  the  more  important  features  of  the 
art  must  be  studied. 

The  man  who  is  already  on  a  paper  in  a  small 
town  and  is  looking  for  connections  with  a  large  city 
daily  may  attain  his  object  in  one  of  two  ways.  He 
may  write  to  the  managing  editors  of  the  chief  dailies 
in  neighboring  cities,  asking  permission  to  act  in  the 
capacity  of  local  representative  and  correspondent;  or 
he  may  introduce  himself  by  sending  some  important 
piece  of  news  promptly  and  in  attractive  form.  The 
news,  of  course,  must  be  something  that  the  editor 
would  not  get  through  the  regular  channels.  If  the 
story  can  be  given  to  one  paper  exclusively,  that  will 
be  the  best  recommendation  of  all,  for  there  is  noth- 

78 


HOW   THE    NEWS    IS    GATHERED 

ing  like  a  "  beat "  for  winning  the  appreciation  and 
good-will  of  an  editor. 

But  the  beginner  must  not  expect  to  telegraph  an 
article  to  a  paper  at  its  expense  without  first  securing 
an  order  from  the  editor.  Even  an  old  correspondent 
is  usually  not  allowed  to  do  that,  for  the  editor  may 
already  have  a  report  of  that  event  from  another 
source,  or  he  may  be  overcrowded  with  matter  and 
may  not  want  the  story. 

The  proper  way  is  to  send,  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment,  a  short  telegram  called  a  "  query,"  giving  the 
pith  of  the  whole  story  in  two  or  three  lines,  and  ask- 
ing the  editor  whether  or  not  he  wants  the  article. 
This  despatch  may  always  be  sent  "  collect " — that  is, 
at  the  expense  of  the  paper.  The  cost  of  a  dozen 
words  more  or  less  is  nothing  to  a  newspaper,  and 
the  sending  of  a  query,  even  by  a  stranger,  is  allow- 
able. If  you  query  a  paper  and  get  no  reply,  the 
editor's  decision  is  negative,  and  there  is  nothing 
more  for  you  to  do  unless  it  be  to  try  some  other 
paper.  If  you  get  an  answer  it  will  probably  come 
within  less  than  an  hour  and  will  specify  the  length 
of  the  despatch  desired.  Whatever  the  limit  of 
words,  the  correspondent  will  find  favor  by  coming 
as  close  to  it  as  possible  without  actually  counting 
every  word. 

Before  undertaking  to  "  query  "  a  city  paper  and 
send  news  by  telegraph,  however,  it  would  be  well 
for  the  average  beginner,  even  though  he  be  a  suc- 
cessful country  editor,  to  tone  down  considerably  his 
ideas  of  what  constitutes  news.  Every  managing  edi- 
tor, of  course,  has  his  own  theories  on  the  subject,  and 
the  difference  in  standards  is  as  wide  as  the  difference 
in  the  tone  and  character  of  the  papers,  but  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  the  Chicago  Tribune's  instruc- 

79 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

tions  to  country  correspondents  gives  a  fair  idea  of 
what  kinds  of  news  not  to  send. 

The  classes  of  news  matter  here  indicated  are  NOT 
WANTED: 

Fatal  or  other  accidents  to  conductors,  engineers, 
brakemen,  switchmen,  or  persons  not  identified,  or  per- 
sons in  obscure  positions  in  life,  except  when  two  or 
more  fatalities  result  from  the  same  accident  or  there 
is  a  great  loss  of  property  involved. 

Trivial  accidents,  such  as  the  breaking  of  legs,  losing 
of  fingers  by  mowing  machines,  or  other  like  events. 

Insignificant  robberies,  burglaries,  till-tappings,  etc. 

Obituaries  of  ordinary  individuals.  But  deaths  of  men 
of  State  or  National  repute  should  be  noticed.  In  such 
cases,  when  there  is  time,  wire  the  Tribune  for  instruc- 
tions. 

Rapes,  abortions  or  seductions,  except  when  persons 
of  marked  prominence  are  involved,  and  then  be  careful 
to  give  only  facts  that  are  in  proof  through  judicial  pro- 
ceedings. Send  nothing  on  mere  rumor.  Cases  of  incest 
or  infanticide  are  never  wanted. 

Reports  of  the  celebration  or  observance  of  holidays, 
except  when  persons  of  State  or  National  importance  are 
to  speak,  and  in  such  cases  give  advance  notice  by  mail 
and  receive  instructions. 

Daily  accounts  of  testimony  in  murder  trials,  unless 
on  instructions. 

Specials  regarding  sporting  matters,  except  after  first 
asking  and  obtaining  instructions. 

Abstracts  of  sermons  by  telegraph,  unless  they  are 
ordered. 

Accounts  of  county  fairs.  But  succinct  reports  of  the 
openings  of  State  fairs  may  be  sent. 

Puffs  of  hotels,  or  any  other  advertising. 

Theatrical  or  other  amusement  notices,  except  in  the 
case  of  large  cities  and  artists  of  National  repute,  first 
productions  of  important  plays  or  operas,  or  other  note- 
So 


HOW   THE   NEWS   IS   GATHERED 

worthy  events;  and  in  all  such  cases  instructions  should 
be  asked  for. 

Reports  of  the  proceedings  of  secret  societies,  except 
on  special  instructions. 

Reports  of  school  commencements,  or  teachers'  or 
other  institutes,  unless  they  are  ordered. 

Crop  news,  unless  specially  ordered.  In  case  of  rain 
or  frost  at  critical  times,  however,  wire  the  Tribune  and 
receive  instructions. 

Weddings,  unless  previously  ordered.  Give  advance 
notice  thereof,  when  the  parties  are  prominent,  and  await 
instructions. 

Ordinary  damage  suits. 

Births  of  freaks  or  monstrosities. 

Far-away  crimes  (unless  persons  of  prominence  are 
involved),  or  executions  unless  ordered. 

These  are  some  of  the  kinds  of  news  that  the  best 
papers  do  not  care  to  get  and  will  not  print  if  a  care- 
less correspondent  sends  it  to  them.  The  beginner 
may  feel  like  exclaiming  in  dismay  that  there  is  noth- 
ing left  to  send,  but  a  moment's  thought  will  dispel 
that  discouraging  illusion.  The  sheet  of  printed  in- 
structions sent  by  the  Associated  Press  to  its  corre- 
spondents contains  a  similar  list  of  forbidden  subjects, 
but  it  also  states  the  positive  as  well  as  the  negative 
side  of  the  reporter's  limitations.  The  following  ex- 
tracts will  show  the  classes  of  happenings  that  are 
regarded  as  news. 

The  kinds  of  news  here  indicated  ARE  WANTED, 
except  where  otherwise  specified: 

Political  news  must  be  without  personal  or  partizan 
bias,  and  of  such  importance  as  to  be  of  general  interest 
beyond  the  confines  of  your  State.  Instructions  will  be 
given  for  covering  State  and  Congressional  conventions 
and  others  if  wanted. 

8l 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 


Election  returns  of  only  local  significance  should  not 
be  sent  except  when  called  for. 

Mass-meetings,  speeches,  banquets,  etc.,  will  be  ordered 
when  wanted. 

Appointments  of  railway  officers  of  the  rank  of  gen- 
eral passenger  and  freight  agents,  and  their  superiors, 
and  of  any  other  official  in  whose  selection  the  State  or 
country  at  large  would  be  interested. 

The  organization  of  new,  or  the  consolidation  of  old, 
railway  companies;  the  formation  of  trusts  or  corpora- 
tions affecting  large  aggregations  of  capital  or  property, 
or  the  welfare  of  the  general  public,  always  eliminating 
any  suggestion  of  advertising. 

Failures,  when  in  excess  of  $30,000,  the  assets,  liabili- 
ties, and  preference  being  given;  also  the  receiver  or 
assignee  when  one  is  appointed. 

Defalcations  should  be  handled  only  when  in  excess 
of  $10,000  unless  attended  by  sensational  circumstances. 

Strikes,  where  the  number  of  employees  thrown  out 
of  work  is  in  excess  of  200,  or  of  such  a  nature  as  to 
affect  large  property  interests,  or  block  transportation; 
or  if  there  should  be  violence  offered  on  the  part  of  the 
strikers. 

Storms,  when  of  phenomenal  severity,  or  attended  by 
loss  of  much  property  or  of  life. 

Accidents,  when  there  is  a  loss  of  two  or  more  lives, 
or  great  destruction  of  property. 

Railway  disasters,  resulting  in  the  destruction  of  prop- 
erty in  excess  of  $50,000,  or  the  loss  of  one  or  more  lives, 
or  the  injury  of  a  number  of  persons,  or  with  circum- 
stances such  as  usually  follow  the  collision  of  passenger 
trains.  The  common  mishaps  of  freight  trains  are  not 
wanted. 

Wrecks  of  vessels  when  valued  at  $10,000  or  over,  or 
there  is  loss  of  life. 

Fires,  when  $50,000  or  over  is  involved,  there  is  loss 
of  life,  or  a  panic  and  people  are  injured  or  endangered, 
or  three  or  more  business  buildings  are  destroyed.  Insur- 


HOW   THE   NEWS   IS   GATHERED 

ance  by  companies  is  not  wanted  unless  ordered,  but  the 
total  amount  should  be  stated. 

Trials. — Proceedings  in  important  cases  before  the 
courts  must  be  sent  in  accordance  with  special  instruc- 
tions, which  will  be  forwarded  on  application.  Decisions 
affecting  railway  corporations,  large  aggregations  of  prop- 
erty, the  interests  of  the  general  public,  and  test  cases  of 
national  importance,  should  be  covered  concisely.  The 
preliminary  hearing  or  trials  of  ordinary  criminal  cases, 
or  the  verdicts,  or  the  sentences  are  not  wanted. 

Murders. — Briefly,  unless  accompanied  by  unusual  cir- 
cumstances, or  the  parties  should  be  of  such  social  stand- 
ing as  to  make  them  known  beyond  their  locality. 

Robberies,  of  $5,000  or  over,  unless  more  than  ordi- 
narily sensational. 

Hangings. — The  story  of  the  crime  (if  ordered)  should 
be  written  up  and  sent  in  advance  by  mail  to  the  Central 
Office.  Instructions  as  to  the  quantity  of  matter  to  be 
telegraphed  will  be  given  in  each  case. 

Rapes  and  Abortions. — Not  wanted,  except  when  the 
victim  of  the  latter  is  well  known  and  dies,  or  the  perpe- 
trator of  the  former  is  pursued  and  lynched  by  a  mob,  or 
is  rescued  by  the  authorities. 

Sporting  Events. — Notice  should  be  given  the  Central 
Office  in  advance  of  all  sporting  events  of  State  or  Na- 
tional interest,  in  order  that,  if  desired,  instructions  may 
be  sent  regarding  them.  Prize  fights,  athletic  contests, 
shooting  matches,  etc.,  the  participants  in  which  are 
known  only  locally,  should  not  be  handled  unless  death 
results,  or  a  State  or  world's  record  is  broken. 

Correspondents  of  the  Associated  Press  are  in- 
structed not  to  "  query "  the  Central  Office,  asking 
how  many  words  to  send,  but  if  the  news  is  of  the 
proper  kind  they  are  expected  to  send  a  "  bulletin  "  of 
100  words  at  once  and  await  instructions.  If  an  order 
is  not  received  it  may  be  assumed  that  nothing  further 
on  that  subject  is  wanted.  The  minimum  compensa- 

83 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

tion  is  50  cents  for  a  despatch,  or  for  two  small  de- 
spatches sent  the  same  day.  The  price  is  increased 
according  to  the  number  of  words  and  the  character 
of  the  news,  the  basis  being  $i  for  200  words.  An 
extra  allowance  is  made  for  exceptional  work,  but 
nothing  is  paid  for  matter  sent  in  violation  of  instruc- 
tions. Every  correspondent  is  placed  in  charge  of  a 
certain  district  and  is  expected  to  confine  his  de- 
spatches to  that  territory  except  when  asked  to  cover 
something  occurring  outside. 

The  representative  of  the  Associated  Press  is  in- 
structed, first  of  all,  to  be  "  fair  toward  all  interests." 
He  is  told  that  he  must  avoid  fine  writing,  padding, 
puffs,  advertisements,  wild  rumors,  unverified  stories, 
and  remarks  of  an  editorial  character.  It  is  impera- 
tive that  care  be  taken  to  write  despatches  without 
grammatical  errors  or  involved  sentences.  A  story  is 
expected  to  be  told  as  briefly  as  is  consistent  with 
an  intelligent  statement  of  facts.  The  correspondent 
is  told  to  keep  always  in  mind  that  "  only  events 
of  general  interest  are  wanted."  Certain  hours 
are  established  before  which  despatches  must  be 
filed  for  the  morning,  noon,  and  evening  editions  of 
papers. 

These  instructions  to  the  Associated  Press  corre- 
spondents have  been  given  at  some  length  because 
they  are  typical  of  the  news  standards  on  all  the  large 
papers  of  the  country.  From  them  the  unattached 
writer  should  be  able  to  get  a  fairly  accurate  idea  of 
what  is  general  news  and  what  is  not.  His  next  task 
is  to  find  a  large  newspaper  that  has  no  special  repre- 
sentative in  his  town,  and  to  try  to  get  the  position  by 
one  of  the  methods  before  described.  If  the  "  query  " 
method  be  chosen,  his  first  attempt  may  be  after  this 
fashion : 


HOW   THE   NEWS    IS   GATHERED 

POPLAR  BLUFF,  Mo.,  June  /jr. 
Editor  St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat: 

Family  of  four  persons  burned  to  death.  Mother  tried 
to  save  children  and  all  perished.  Do  you  want  story? 

JOHN  JONES. 
Filed  4.15  P.  M. 

Should  the  editor  have  no  way  of  getting  this 
story  through  regular  channels  he  will  probably  wire 
the  new  man  to  send  500  words.  If  the  correspondent 
be  of  the  enterprising  kind  he  will  already  have  his 
despatch  well  under  way,  for  it  is  better  to  risk  wasting 
some  labor  than  to  be  behindhand  in  filling  a  news 
order.  The  matter  that  gets  into  the  office  early  is 
put  into  type  first,  and  then  it  is  much  less  likely  to 
be  cut  down  or  thrown  away  than  when  it  comes  late. 
As  the  correspondent  is  paid  by  the  amount  printed, 
it  is  to  the  interest  of  his  pocket  as  well  as  of  his  repu- 
tation to  be  as  prompt  as  possible  in  sending  matter. 

The  question  of  how  to  begin  a  telegraphic  news 
story  is  almost  as  important  as  that  of  promptness. 
The  principles  are  the  same  as  those  laid  down  for  the 
reporter  in  the  local  room.  The  object  is  to  build  the 
story  so  that  it  can  always  be  curtailed  by  dropping 
off  whole  paragraphs  from  the  end  without  injuring 
the  sense.  Unless  your  story  be  written  on  this  plan 
it  is  liable  to  go  into  the  waste-basket  bodily,  espe- 
cially if  it  arrives  late. 

After  the  date  line  begin  with  the  most  striking 
fact.  Make  the  first  two  or  three  sentences  tell  the 
whole  story  in  a  nutshell.  Then  begin  a  new  para- 
graph and  start  in  on  the  details,  enlarging  on  the  sub- 
ject as  much  as  necessary  to  fill  the  limit  of  words 
allowed.  Don't  use  a  needless  word.  Don't  indulge 
in  big  adjectives  or  spread-eagle  rhetoric.  It  is  more 
effective  to  say  "  Fifty  people  were  killed  in  a  rail- 

85 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

road  accident,"  than  to  say  "  A  horrible  railroad  acci- 
dent inflicted  a  frightful  and  appalling  death  upon  half 
a  hundred  people/'  etc.  Use  short  sentences,  short 
words,  and  simple  constructions ;  these  are  nearly 
always  the  best  for  newspaper  purposes.  Write  the 
story  just  as  it  is  to  go  into  the  paper.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  drop  out  the  little  words  such  as  "  the,"  "  to," 
or  "  of  "  in  a  telegram  that  is  meant  for  publication. 
Few  papers  now  wish  to  have  their  telegraphic  matter 
skeletonized ;  the  money  saved  in  the  telegraph  bill  is 
lost  in  the  time  spent  by  the  copy  reader  in  filling  in 
the  missing  words.  This  rule,  of  course,  does  not 
apply  to  cable  despatches. 

When  a  new  correspondent  sends  in  a  story  con- 
structed on  the  lines  just  described  it  is  easily  handled 
in  the  office.'  The  telegraph  editor  has  no  trouble  in 
trimming  it  down  or  expanding  it  to  suit  the  space  at 
his  command.  The  news  editor  will  make  a  mental 
note  of  the  fact  that  a  good  man  is  available  at  the 
town  in  question,  and  the  new  man  is  likely  to  receive 
more  orders  soon.  When  some  local  event  worth  a 
two-column  article  occurs  the  managing  editor  will 
give  him  the  assignment  instead  of  sending  a  special 
staff  reporter  from  the  office  to  do  it.  The  man  who 
knows  the  right  methods  will  soon  find  that  they  have 
a  cash  value. 

In  sending  news  by  wire  begin  with  the  date  line, 
as  provided  for  in  the  blanks  at  the  telegraph-office, 
and  in  using  the  words  "  yesterday,"  "  to-day,"  etc., 
always  apply  them  with  reference  to  the  date  under 
which  you  are  writing,  even  though  the  story  is  to 
appear  in  next  morning's  paper.  Newspapers  do  not 
use  the  year  in  the  date  line.  Follow  with  your  story, 
without  heading  of  any  kind ;  sign  your  name  at  the 
end,  and  on  the  bottom  of  the  last  sheet  do  not  fail 

86 


HOW   THE    NEWS    IS    GATHERED 

to  write  "  Filed  8.40  P.  M.,"  or  whatever  the  hour  and 
minute  may  be  when  you  hand  the  message  to  the 
operator.  All  despatches  ordered  by  newspapers  are 
sent  "  collect."  There  are  special  press  rates  which 
make  the  cost  of  telegraphic  service  considerably  less 
for  the  newspapers  than  for  ordinary  individuals. 

"  Gets  the  news  at  any  cost "  is  now  practically 
the  motto  of  all  the  larger  papers.  Almost  every  man- 
aging editor  will  pay  cheerfully  all  legitimate  expenses 
incurred  by  a  correspondent  in  getting  important 
news.  The  city  reporter's  expense  account  for  cab 
and  carriage  hire  often  amounts  to  almost  as  much 
as  his  salary.  The  telegraphic  correspondent  usually 
is  paid  by  "  space  rates,"  which  vary  according  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  paper,  but  which  probably  average 
$6  a  column.  Usually  the  correspondent  is  expected 
to  present  his  bill  about  once  a  month  with  a 
"  string  "  made  by  cutting  out  all  his  matter  from  the 
columns  of  the  paper  and  pasting  it  into  a  continuous 
piece,  which  can  be  measured  with  a  column  rule  and 
paid  for  according  to  its  length. 

The  chief  points  in  the  science  of  successful  news- 
gathering  may  be  summed  up  thus :  Be  quick  in  send-  \/ 
ing  your  news,  for  news,  like  buckwheat  cakes,  is  not 
good  for  much  after  it  becomes  cold.  Write  your  best 
point  first,  so  that  it  will  strike  the  eye  and  make  the 
reader  look  at  what  follows.  Be  clear,  or  you  will 
never  be  anything.  Learn  the  art  of  being  brief,  and 
the  art  of  writing  against  space  will  take  care  of  itself. 
Never  violate  a  promise,  but  be  chary  about  making 
promises.  Never  let  a  rival  get  a  "  beat "  at  your 
expense.  Be  careful  not  to  write  anything  derogatory 
to  anybody's  character  unless  you  have  valid  proofs 
or  unless  the  matter  has  been  passed  upon  by  a  grand 
jury  or  a  court.  Remember  that  to  bring  a  libel  suit 

87 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

upon  your  paper  is  a  crime  for  which  beheading  is  the 
kindest  punishment  known.  Don't  editorialize — that 
is,  don't  color  your  statements  even  with  an  adjective 
or  an  adverb  that  will  indicate  your  personal  opinion 
on  a  disputed  case  concerning  which  the  editorial 
page  has  not  committed  itself.  It  is  wisest  to  let  the 
chief  editor  shape  the  policy  of  the  paper.  He  may 
often  appear  to  need  some  help  in  this  line,  but  the 
young  reporter  or  correspondent  can  scarcely  afford 
to  give  it  to  him. 


VII 


EDITORS  AND  THEIR  METHODS 

THE  functions  and  relative  rank  of  the  members 
of  the  directing  staff — the  managing  editor,  city  editor, 
news  editor,  night  editor,  and  the  rest — have  been  de- 
scribed sufficiently  in  another  chapter.  It  remains  still 
to  describe  the  methods  and  qualifications  of  the  edi- 
torial writers,  the  department  editors,  and  the  copy 
readers. 

The  work  of  the  copy  reader  is  in  some  respects 
the  exact  opposite  of  the  reporter's  work.  The  func- 
tion of  the  editor  with  the  blue  pencil  is  to  criticize 
and  repress,  while  that  of  the  reporter  is  to  produce 
and  describe.  The  work  of  the  editorial  writer  also  is 
essentially  critical.  Thus  it  is  easy  to  see  how  a  man 
may  be  an  excellent  reporter  and  yet  be  incapable 
of  doing  good  editorial  work,  or  how  a  comparatively 
poor  reporter  may  become  a  famous  editor.  No  man 
without  the  news  instinct  can  succeed  in  any  jour- 
nalistic position,  but  it  is  evident  that  a  man  with  the 
lightning-like  faculties  needed  to  report  a  furious  tu- 
mult in  a  political  convention  may  lack  the  calm  judg- 
ment needed  to  write  an  editorial  leader  giving  the 
wisest  counsel  on  a  difficult  problem  of  statesman- 
ship. In  fact,  there  is  much  to  support  George  W. 
Smalley's  contention  that  reporting  is  bad  training  for 
an  editor.  No  doubt  too  many  years  spent  in  news 
writing  may  unfit  a  young  man  in  some  degree  for 

89 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

good  critical  writing.  But  the  fact  remains  that  almost 
the  only  open  door  to  the  editorial  room  is  through 
the  local  room,  so  it  does  but  little  good  to  theorize 
on  the  point.  It  also  is  well  to  remember  that  the  edi- 
torial department  is  dwindling,  while  the  great  cur- 
rents of  life  that  sweep  nightly  through  the  repor- 
torial  departments  are  increasing  yearly. 

There  is  no  fixed  system  of  promotion  in  a  news- 
paper office,  but  usually  the  reporter  gets  his  start  in 
desk  work,  as  the  editorial  function  is  called,  by  be- 
coming a  copy  reader.  This  means  a  slight  increase 
in  his  pay  and  an  entire  change  in  his  work.  Instead 
of  being  sent  out  in  the  afternoon  to  cover  an  assign- 
ment, he  reports  for  duty  to  the  night  city  editor  at 
six  or  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  and  spends  the 
night  in  reading  and  correcting  the  matter  written  by 
the  reporters.  He  goes  swiftly  through  the  copy,  blue 
pencil  in  hand,  crossing  out  whole  pages,  rewriting 
others,  cutting  down,  amplifying,  and  polishing,  be- 
coming thereby  jointly  responsible  with  the  reporter 
for  the  correctness  of  the  article.  The  copy  reader 
takes  a  large  share  of  the  responsibility  for  the  tone 
and  style  of  the  matter  and  for  its  liability  to  make 
trouble  of  any  kind  if  published.  It  behooves  him  to 
be  extremely  cautious  about  statements  bordering  on 
the  libelous. 

While  one  corps  of  copy  readers  is  at  work  on  the 
local  matter  another  corps  is  doing  similar  work  upon 
the  "  flimsy  "  and  the  special  despatches  in  the  tele- 
graph room.  Usually  the  city  editor  or  the  news 
editor  has  told  the  reporter  or  the  correspondent 
what  points  to  make  prominent  and  what  attitude 
to  assume,  if  the  matter  be  something  involving  the 
policy  of  the  paper.  The  copy  reader  is  under  the 
same  instructions,  and  it  is  his  duty  to  see  that  the 

90 


EDITORS   AND   THEIR   METHODS 

reporter  has  followed  orders,  that  the  style  of  the 
paper  has  been  adhered  to,  that  the  words  and  sen- 
tences are  in  proper  form,  that  every  comma  is  in  its 
place — in  short,  that  the  copy  is  all  ready  for  the 
printer,  including  the  marks  to  show  in  what  size  of 
type  it  is  to  be  printed,  and  which  parts  of  it  shall  be 
leaded  and  which  solid. 

One  of  the  hardest  parts  of  the  copy  reader's  task 
is  to  write  head-lines  over  the  stories  he  edits.  Usually 
a  reporter  does  not  write  the  head-lines  over  his  own 
stories.  One  reason  for  this  is  that  his  article  often  is 
completely  changed  when  it  comes  out  of  the  copy 
reader's  hands.  Another  is  that  it  is  wise  to  make 
every  statement  undergo  the  scrutiny  of  a  second  pair 
of  eyes  before  it  can  get  into  the  composing-room. 
But  the  chief  reason  is  that  head-line  writing  is  an  art 
in  itself,  and  the  copy  reader  must  be  an  expert  in  this 
work.  It  is  as  difficult  to  write  good  "  display  heads  " 
as  to  write  good  verse. 

A  perfect  newspaper  heading  is  one  that  tells  as 
much  of  the  story  as  possible  in  the  limited  number  of 
lines  and  letters  of  which  it  is  composed.  •  The  top 
line  usually  should  contain  a  verb,  expressed  or  im- 
plied, along  with  the  leading  noun  in  the  story.  It 
should  be  a  full  line,  and  as  such  it  always  will  contain 
about  the  same  number  of  letters  and  spaces  when  a 
given  type  is  used.  The  head-line  writer  must  say 
what  he  wishes  in  exactly  that  number  of  letters.  The 
first  subhead  usually  should  be  explanatory  of  the  top 
line,  amplifying  the  original  statement.  The  remain- 
ing lines  or  subheads  should  sum  up  the  more  impor- 
tant details  of  the  story.  A  good  paper  seldom  uses 
exclamation  points  in  its  head-lines.  It  is  a  good  rule 
to  avoid  beginning  a  head-line  with  "  the,"  as  this  col- 
orless word  merely  crowds  out  some  other  with  more 

91 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

meaning.  When  the  words  "  to-day  "  or  "  yesterday  " 
are  used  in  head-lines  they  have  reference  to  the  day 
of  publication,  even  though  the  body  of  the  article  be 
written  under  a  different  date.  A  well-worded  head- 
ing in  many  cases  tells  the  busy  reader  all  he  wishes  to 
know  without  reading  the  article  itself. 

It  is  said  that  the  first  heavy  display  heads  were 
used  to  record  the  death  of  Daniel  Webster  in  1852. 
The  invention  has  been  abused  by  sensational  papers, 
but  it  has  become  one  of  the  most  valuable  features 
of  modern  journalism  in  wise  hands.  The  ignorance 
of  many  country  editors  in  the  art  of  building  a  good 
head  is  among  their  worst  handicaps.  Their  head- 
lines often  tell  nothing  of  the  story.  It  would  be 
money  in  their  pockets  if  they  would  study  the  head- 
lines of  a  good  metropolitan  daily  and  copy  its  style 
as  nearly  as  possible. 

The  work  of  copy  reading  is  likely  to  be  drudgery 
to  a  man  of  active  temperament  who  has  grown  accus- 
tomed to  the  rush  and  varied  excitements  of  the  re- 
porter's life.  If  he  be  fond  of  seeing  himself  in  print, 
he  also  misses  the  keen  pleasure  of  authorship  when 
he  reads  the  paper  each  morning,  unless  he  can  find  it 
in  his  head-lines  and  in  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that 
he  has  made  clear  and  condensed  English  out  of  some 
bungling  reporter's  diffuse  story.  He  knows  that  the 
reporters  call  him  a  butcher  and  resent  the  ruthless 
way  in  which  he  cuts  out  their  finest  flourishes.  The 
copy  reader  is  an  obscure  individual.  The  public 
knows  the  reporter  and  it  knows  the  editor,  but  of  the 
man  who  toils  through  the  night  putting  copy  on  a 
hook  the  public  knows  little  or  nothing.  Yet  the 
copy  reader  is  the  man  who  is  doing  most  to  make 
American  newspaper  English  the  limpid,  strong,  sim- 
ple, and  fairly  admirable  vehicle  of  thought  that  it  is 

92 


EDITORS   AND   THEIR   METHODS 

to-day.  He  is  by  no  means  to  be  pitied,  for  he  is  on 
the  high  road  to  possible  promotion  to  the  executive 
posts.  From  reporter  to  managing  editor  sometimes 
is  a  matter  of  but  a  few  years  by  this  route.  Strangely 
enough,  the  position  of  editorial  writer,  which  is 
higher  in  rank  and  pay  than  that  of  a  copy  reader, 
seldom  leads  to  an  executive  position.  The  same  is 
true  of  all  the  specialists'  departments.  They  are 
desirable  berths,  but  they  are  off  the  main  line  of  pro- 
motion. 

The  editorial  writers  are  under  the  direct  control 
of  the  owner-editor,  and  their  rank  and  pay  are  among 
the  highest.  The  head  editorial  writer's  salary  usually 
is  second  only  to  that  of  the  managing  editor.  The 
men  in  this  department  nearly  all  have  come  up  by 
way  of  the  local  room  and  the  copy  reader's  desk,  but 
as  a  rule  they  must  have  a  broader  education  and  a 
critical  training  besides.  It  is  on  the  editorial  staff 
that  the  college  graduate  has  his  best  opportunity. 

Usually  the  chief  editor  and  owner  of  the  paper 
suggests  or  dictates  the  substance  of  the  leading  edi- 
torials to  members  of  his  staff.  He  has  the  final  au- 
thority as  to  how  each  topic  shall  be  treated,  but  it 
is  not  customary  for  him  to  assign  all  the  subjects  and 
tell  every  man  what  line  of  argument  is  to  be  fol- 
lowed. As  a  rule  each  editorial  writer  reads  the  pa- 
pers through  in  the  morning  and  chooses  certain  sub- 
jects on  which  he  desires  to  write.  Then  in  many 
cases  the  members  of  the  staff  meet  in  a  brief  confer- 
ence with  their  chief,  discuss  the  subjects  that  are  up- 
permost, get  each  other's  ideas  and  those  of  the  chief, 
agree  on  an  allotment  of  the  various  subjects,  and  then 
go  to  their  desks  and  spend  the  rest  of  the  day  in  wri- 
ting on  the  various  topics  as  they  think  best.  Usu- 
ally each  member  of  the  staff  has  a  special  line  of  sub- 
8  93 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

jects  on  which  he  can  speak  with  authority.  In  many 
cases  they  must  write  opinions  widely  different  from 
their  own. 

The  editorials  then  are  handed  to  the  editor,  or  to 
a  head  editorial  writer  who  acts  for  him.  Thus  the 
editor  becomes  in  his  turn  a  copy  reader,  with  full 
power  to  alter,  rewrite,  curtail,  or  suppress  any  article 
at  will.  The  fate  of  each  depends  upon  its  power  to 
convince  the  editor  or  upon  how  nearly  it  coincides 
with  the  policy  of  the  paper.  If  it  is  not  acceptable  it 
is  thrown  into  the  waste-basket  as  summarily  as  the 
production  of  the  humblest  country  correspondent.  If 
a  man's  articles  meet  this  fate  too  frequently  and  per- 
sistently he  is  dropped  from  the  staff. 

A  typical  editorial  article  is  a  critical  interpretation 
of  current  news.  The  editorial  writer  takes  up  the 
more  important  news  topics  of  the  day  and  philoso- 
phizes upon  them,  attempting  to  point  out  the  rela- 
tion of  isolated  facts  to  each  other  and  to  general 
principles.  He  seeks  out  historical  precedents  and 
lends  perspective  to  events  that  are  flat  and  meaning- 
less when  seen  only  close  at  hand.  The  editorial  goes 
beneath  the  surface  and  seeks  for  causes,  effects,  and 
remedies.  In  this  aspect  M.  de  Blowitz's  dictum  prob- 
ably is  true :  "  One  good  comment  is  worth  ten  infor- 
mations/' The  editorial  opinion  of  a  well-trained 
mind  is  to  news  matter  what  the  finished  linen  is  to 
the  raw  flax.  But  one  man  wants  his  raw  material 
woven  into  a  free-trade  editorial,  while  another  wants 
a  protective  tariff  product ;  one  wants  liberalism,  and 
another  orthodoxy;  one  likes  slashing  and  savage 
criticism — of  other  people — while  another  prefers  dig- 
nified and  temperate  comment.  Each  paper  must 
choose  which  class  of  readers  it  will  serve. 

A   good   editorial   should   be  timely,   brief,   well 

94 


EDITORS   AND   THEIR   METHODS 

informed,  comprehensive,  and  pungent.  The  best 
model  embodies  a  restatement  of  the  news  involved, 
followed  by  clear-cut  comment  on  it  from  the  paper's 
point  of  view.  Sometimes  an  editorial  may  consist 
largely  of  a  resume  of  news  matter  that  has  been  ap- 
pearing piecemeal  in  the  telegraphic  or  local  columns ; 
in  fact,  many  people  read  the  editorials  chiefly  for  the 
condensations  of  news  found  there.  But  the  essence 
of  the  editorial  is  the  comment  it  contains.  The  edi- 
torial page  is  the  one  set  aside  for  special  pleading, 
for  partizan  views,  for  distinctive  opinions  on  debata- 
ble questions.  The  more  this  element  fades  out  of 
it  the  less  reason  will  it  have  for  existing. 

The  writing  of  the  best  class  of  editorials  requires 
ripe  judgment  and  a  wide  range  of  knowledge,  espe- 
cially in  political  and  social  history.  The  highest  suc- 
cess as  an  editorial  writer  requires  an  exhaustive  study 
of  American  politics,  from  the  foundation  principles 
of  the  Constitution  to  the  last  election  returns  in  every 
State.  Politics  is  a  hard  and  complicated  subject,  and 
only  years  of  study  and  observation  can  make  one  an 
expert  writer  in  this  most  important  journalistic  spe- 
cialty. A  man  should  have  a  natural  interest  in  poli- 
tics in  order  to  reach  the  top  of  the  newspaper  profes- 
sion. Mr.  Dana  had  this  fact  in  mind  when  he  said 
that  he  could  tell  whether  a  young  man  would  make  a 
good  journalist  or  not  merely  by  watching  what  part 
of  the  paper  he  turns  to  first  in  the  morning.  If  he 
looks  for  the  political  page  it  is  a  good  sign.  If  his 
first  thought  is  to  look  for  a  love  story  he  is  not  a 
hopeful  candidate  for  journalistic  honors,  though  he 
may  succeed  as  a  fiction  writer.  There  are  other 
branches  besides  politics,  however,  that  may  give  a 
man  a  lucrative  place  on  an  editorial  staff.  Finance 
is  one  of  the  best  of  these. 

95 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

Two  other  critical  departments  that  partake  largely 
of  the  editorial  nature  are  those  of  the  book  reviewer 
and  the  dramatic  critic.  Both  the  dramatic  and  the 
literary  reviews  consist  of  news  more  or  less  critically 
interpreted.  The  work  of  the  dramatic  critic  usually 
must  be  done  in  feverish  haste  late  at  night,  in  the 
hour  or  two  that  intervene  between  the  close  of  the 
play  and  the  time  when  the  paper  goes  to  press.  The 
book  reviewer  can  do  his  work  in  the  daytime  and 
more  at  his  leisure,  but  his  hours  are  longer.  True, 
one  may  go  on  Mark  Twain's  theory  that  it  is  better 
to  review  a  book  without  reading  it,  because  it  preju- 
dices one  so  to  read  it ;  but  the  plan  is  not  conducive 
to  long  tenure  of  office.  The  literary  and  dramatic  de- 
partments are  among  the  most  desirable  on  a  news- 
paper. 

A  book  review  is  essentially  an  editorial  article. 
This  fact  alone  may  serve  to  explain  to  many  aspiring 
literary  novices  why  their  services  as  book  critics  are 
rejected  even  when  proffered  gratis.  The  ripeness  of 
judgment  displayed  in  a  book  review  is  half  its  value ; 
the  other  half  lies  in  the  skill  with  which  the  author's 
story  or  ideas  are  summed  up  by  the  reviewer.  A 
good  review  ought  to  give  the  reader  a  glimpse  of  all 
that  is  best  in  the  book,  combined  with  the  critic's 
opinion  of  the  value  of  the  work  for  the  average  read- 
er's purpose.  Though  the  typical  review  or  dramatic 
criticism  consists  of  a  mingling  of  information  and 
comment,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  the  comment 
should  fill  one-half  the  space.  A  review  that  contains 
more  of  the  reviewer  than  of  the  book  is  likely  to  be 
dull  reading  for  the  average  person. 

For  newspaper  purposes  a  book  review  should 
consist  largely  of  the  news  element,  and  it  should 
avoid  too  much  analysis  or  learned  comment.  Light 

96 


EDITORS   AND   THEIR   METHODS 

but  dignified  gossip  about  the  best  books  of  the  hour 
is  good  newspaper  stuff.  The  chief  thing  for  the  re- 
viewer to  keep  in  mind  is  that  he  is  writing  for  the 
public  and  not  for  the  author's  instruction  or  the  pub- 
lisher's profit.  A  catalogue  of  all  the  errors  in  a  book, 
with  the  page  on  which  each  may  be  found,  is  not 
nearly  so  good  a  review  for  newspaper  purposes  as 
one  that  tells  what  the  author  has  tried  to  do,  gives  a 
glimpse  of  the  best  he  has  done,  and  dismisses  the 
errors  with  a  mere  statement  that  they  are  there  and 
mar  the  work.  Some  of  the  best  reviewers,  like  Mr. 
Mayo  W.  Haseltine  and  Miss  Jeannette  L.  Gilder,  de- 
vote their  space  chiefly  to  telling  what  is  in  the  book, 
often  confining  their  comments  to  a  few  incidental 
adjectives  or  expressions  of  personal  opinion.  But 
the  few  words  of  comment  which  they  use  are  the 
right  words,  and  there  also  is  a  world  of  comment  in 
their  selection  of  material  and  in  the  mere  choice  of 
books  about  which  to  write. 

The  position  of  dramatic  or  musical  critic  is 
reached  most  easily  through  the  reportorial  gateway 
or  through  a  reputation  obtained  as  a  dramatist  or  a 
music-teacher.  Many  book  critics  also  begin  as  re- 
porters, but  this  apprenticeship  is  less  necessary  in  the 
literary  department  than  in  almost  any  other.  A  col- 
lege education  and  a  reputation  as  a  story  writer  are 
qualifications  that  often  will  secure  their  possessor  a 
position  as  literary  critic.  Many  bright  women  have 
reached  such  positions  through  these  avenues.  For 
those  who  have  a  considerable  knowledge  of  books, 
but  lack  experience  in  critical  writing,  the  best  course 
is  to  give  themselves  some  private  training.  They 
should  begin  writing  reviews  of  all  kinds  of  books, 
modeling  their  methods  upon  those  of  some  good 
critic,  but  expressing  views  entirely  their  own,  and 

97 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

looking  especially  for  the  weak  points  in  the  books, 
for  these  are  most  liable  to  escape  the  beginner. 
After  you  have  written  two  or  three  dozen  such  arti- 
cles in  the  seclusion  of  your  own  room  you  may  be 
justified  in  showing  a  sample  of  your  work  to  the 
literary  editor  of  some  paper  and  asking  him  for  the 
privilege  of  reviewing  any  book  he  may  choose  to  give 
you.  For  this  first  work  you  probably  will  get  no  pay 
except  the  book.  The  beginner  may  have  to  work 
for  that  kind  of  pay  a  long  time,  but  patience  and 
good  reviews  ultimately  will  open  up  an  opportunity 
to  get  a  salaried  position  as  book  critic  on  that  or 
some  other  paper. 

The  exchange  editor  is  the  man  who  writes  with 
the  shears.  It  is  his  duty  to  look  through  the  news- 
papers of  the  rest  of  the  English-speaking  world  in 
search  of  interesting  miscellany  and  pointed  com- 
ments of  other  editors,  to  choose  such  articles  or  ex- 
tracts as  will  suit  the  policy  and  politics  of  his  paper, 
to  give  them  the  proper  credit  lines  telling  what  paper 
they  are  from,  and  to  write  new  head-lines  that  will 
suit  the  typographical  make-up  of  his  own  journal. 
This  sounds  simple,  but  the  work  requires  the  news 
instinct  and  other  journalistic  talents  to  a  high  degree. 
Mr.  Dana  considered  the  exchange  editor  one  of  the 
most  important  men  on  the  whole  paper,  and  there  is 
much  to  justify  his  view. 

The  man  with  the  shears  is  held  quite  closely  with- 
in the  limits  of  his  paper's  policy.  He  must  read  the 
editorial  page  of  his  own  sheet  every  day  and  confine 
his  clippings  chiefly  to  those  voicing  the  same  views. 
His  widest  latitude  is  in  the  search  for  personal  items 
about  noted  people,  his  choice  of  jokes  and  interesting 
miscellany,  and  the  like.  His  greatest  opportunity  for 
making  himself  useful  and  winning  the  favor  of  the 

98 


EDITORS   AND   THEIR    METHODS 

managing  editor  is  in  finding  plenty  of  "  tips  "  or  sto- 
ries in  other  papers  that  can  be  made  the  basis  for  sim- 
ilar articles  with  a  local  application.  In  some  of  the 
large  offices  the  exchange  editor  himself  is  expected 
to  write  original  articles  from  suggestions  gleaned  in 
the  course  of  his  reading,  but  as  a  rule  his  labors  in 
this  direction  are  confined  to  an  industrious  search  for 
clippings  that  will  help  other  men  in  the  various  crit- 
ical and  news  departments.  It  is  evident  that  only  a 
good  all-around  newspaper  man  can  do  the  best  work 
in  such  a  position,  though  on  the  smaller  papers  the 
exchange  desk  sometimes  is  made  the  entrance  way 
to  newspaperdom  for  intelligent  novices. 

An  exchange  editor  must  have  the  faculty  of  swift 
reading.  Each  day  he  must  read  a  pile  of  papers 
almost  as  high  as  his  desk,  and  it  will  count  against 
him  if  he  misses  any  important  article  of  special  inter- 
est to  his  own  community.  He  must  have  the  ability 
to  know  at  a  glance  whether  or  not  there  is  anything 
quotable  on  a  page,  and  to  run  his  eye  down  an  edi- 
torial column  and  pick  out  its  salient  paragraph  in  a 
moment.  A  man  or  woman  must  have  accurate  judg- 
ment, good  taste,  and  up-to-date  knowledge  on  all 
subjects  in  order  to  be  a  successful  exchange  reader. 

The  sporting  editor  is  one  of  the  busiest  men  on 
the  modern  newspaper.  Nearly  all  the  large  dailies 
now  give  at  least  one  whole  page  to  sporting  matters 
every  day,  and  some  give  four  pages  every  Sunday. 
To  conduct  such  a  department  successfully  a  man 
must  not  only  have  a  thorough  knowledge  of  every 
kind  of  indoor  and  outdoor  games  and  sports,  but  must 
also  combine  the  qualities  of  a  good  reporter  with 
those  of  a  managing  editor.  Though  he  works  under 
the  direction  of  the  city  editor  or  managing  editor,  he 
must  do  most  of  his  own  planning  to  get  the  news. 

99 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

The  telegraph  is  at  his  service  for  securing  reports 
of  distant  events,  while  he  always  can  get  assistance 
from  the  local  room  on  important  events  in  his  own 
town  when  necessary.  Sporting  news  from  all  sources 
is  turned  over  to  him  and  to  his  copy  readers.  He 
must  be  equally  able  to  write  a  good  report  of  an  im- 
portant prize-fight,  or  to  supervise  the  writing  of  a 
page  story  about  a  horse-race  that  calls  out  the  fash- 
ionable society  of  the  city.  He  has  to  be  careful  not 
to  become  involved  in  any  of  the  disputes  that  attend 
athletic  contests  and  sporting  events  of  all  kinds. 
Upon  the  impartiality  and  completeness  of  his  reports 
will  depend  the  degree  of  his  success.  Such  positions 
usually  are  secured  by  first  serving  an  apprenticeship 
as  a  reporter  on  general  assignments. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  positions  at  the  head 
of  the  commercial  and  financial  departments.  These 
are  places  requiring  a  large  amount  of  technical  knowl- 
edge and  a  wide  acquaintance  among  Board  of  Trade 
men  and  bankers  and  brokers.  The  railroad,  real 
estate,  and  insurance  editors  must  have  similar  quali- 
fications in  their  respective  fields.  A  man  may  fit 
himself  to  become  a  specialist  in  any  one  of  these  de- 
partments by  reading  and  study  along  the  required 
lines,  but  usually  he  also  must  have  some  practical  ex- 
perience as  a  reporter  before  he  can  secure  a  position. 
Experience  in  a  business  office  will  be  valuable  to  him. 
Sometimes  the  easiest  line  of  approach  to  these  cov- 
eted posts  is  through  the  avenue  of  the  tfade  paper  or 
technical  journal,  and  sometimes  a  department  man  on 
a  newspaper  can  better  his  position  by  taking  an  edi- 
torial desk  on  a  trade  or  financial  weekly.  There 
are  some  who  manage  to  do  both  kinds  of  work  at  the 
same  time,  often  nearly  duplicating  their  salaries  by 
their  outside  earnings.  It  would  not  benefit  the  aver- 

100 


8 

«      o 

W     5 
0,     J 

h 

O 

2* 

H 

w 
en 


EDITORS   AND   THEIR   METHODS 

age  reader  at  this  stage  to  go  into  technical  details  as 
to  the  nature  and  methods  of  the  work  in  these  depart- 
ments, but  as  a  rule  they  are  desirable  berths,  not  be- 
cause the  salaries  are  particularly  high,  but  because 
they  throw  a  young  man  into  contact  with  many  prom- 
inent business  men  and  enable  him  to  make  valuable 
acquaintances  and  to  find  lucrative  business  openings 
after  a  time.  The  money  and  the  activities  of  the 
world  in  the  present  age  are  concentrated  in  large 
business  enterprises,  and  it  is  among  these  that  the 
largest  rewards  are  to  be  found. 

In  the  main  the  work  of  these  department  editors 
is  reportorial  in  its  nature,  but  it  often  requires  slight- 
ly different  methods  from  those  of  the  ordinary  re- 
porter. The  real-estate  editor,  for  instance,  must  visit 
the  offices  of  realty  dealers  and  architects,  seeking 
news  of  transfers  and  building  projects.  The  railroad 
editor  must  canvass  the  railway  offices  for  news  of  all 
kinds  relating  to  that  kind  of  enterprise.  In  many 
cases  the  editor  does  not  know  just  what  information 
to  seek.  His  task  is  like  that  of  fishing  in  cloudy 
waters,  and  his  success  will  depend  entirely  upon  his 
choosing  the  right  bait  for  the  kind  of  fish  that  hap- 
pens to  be  at  the  bottom.  It  does  almost  no  good  to 
go  into  a  busy  man's  office  and  ask,  "  What's  the 
news  ? ''  Unless  he  has  some  information  which  he  is 
particularly  anxious  to  get  into  print,  he  will  stare 
blankly  a  moment  and  then  reply  that  he  knows  of 
nothing.  The  reporter  in  this  kind  of  work  must  be 
able  to  make  shrewd  guesses  as  to  what  is  likely  to 
be  going  on,  and  to  ask  questions  that  will  elicit  the 
desired  information.  If  he  can  not  do  this  he  may 
fall  back  upon  the  expedient  of  telling  a  bit  of  news 
similar  to  that  which  he  is  seeking.  The  law  of  the 
association  of  ideas  is  likely  to  suggest  a  similar  item 

101 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

to  the  hearer.  This  peculiarity  in  the  working  of  the 
human  mind  is  one  which  all  reporters  will  do  well  to 
remember. 

Every  large  paper  has  regular  correspondents  in 
Washington,  New  York,  London,  and  other  leading 
cities  in  America  and  Europe.  The  representatives  in 
these  large  news  centers  differ  from  the  correspond- 
ents in  the  smaller  towns  in  that  they  are  expected  to 
send  matter  every  day.  Some  of  them  also  are  al- 
lowed a  good  deal  of  liberty  in  choosing  what  news 
they  will  send  and  how  they  will  treat  it.  This  is 
especially  true  of  the  Washington  correspondents. 
There  is  an  increasing  tendency  to  place  men  of 
marked  ability  in  these  positions,  and  to  allow  them  to 
combine  the  powers  of  reporter  and  editor  in  their 
work.  Some  of  the  more  noted  correspondents,  like 
De  Blowitz,  George  W.  Smalley,  or  William  E.  Cur- 
tis, practically  have  the  powers  of  editorial  writers, 
often  commenting  upon  the  news  they  send.  The 
Washington  "  specials  "  and  the  London  cable  de- 
spatches are  largely  in  the  hands  of  such  men.  Such 
positions  are  especially  desirable  for  men  who  wish  to 
be  more  than  mere  chroniclers  of  the  day's  happen- 
ings. They  have  the  responsibilities  and  the  privileges 
both  of  reporters  and  of  editors,  and  they  have  a 
chance  to  impress  their  own  individuality  upon  their 
work  to  a  degree  seldom  allowed  to  a  reporter.  Posi- 
tions of  this  kind  are  worthy  of  the  ambition  of  the 
ablest  men. 

It  may  be  explained  in  passing  that  a  man  who 
represents  a  New  York  paper  in  Chicago,  for  instance, 
gets  his  materials  from  the  news  columns  of  the  Chi- 
cago papers.  His  work  must  be  done  late  at  night  by 
reading  the  proofs  and  telegraphing  portions  of  the 
more  important  stories  to  his  own  paper.  The  Chi 


- 
1  02 


EDITORS   AND   THEIR   METHODS 

cago  papers  have  representatives  in  the  offices  of  New 
York  papers  doing  the  same  thing.  There  is  a  sim- 
ilar interchange  of  news  among  the  papers  of  all  the 
large  cities,  entirely  independent  of  the  Associated 
Press.  These  correspondents  usually  work  under  con- 
stant directions  from  their  managing  editors  and  are 
supposed  to  confine  themselves  to  giving  the  news  in 
condensed  form  much  as  they  find  it  in  the  proofs. 

The  Sunday  supplement  is  treated  elsewhere  in  a 
special  chapter.  The  woman's  page  and  the  society 
columns  are  sufficiently  touched  upon  in  the  chapter 
on  "  Women  in  Newspaper  Work."  There  are  other 
minor  subdivisions,  but  I  believe  all  the  chief  wheels 
and  cogs  of  the  great  intellectual  machine  have  been 
described. 

As  it  is  impossible  for  the  chief  editor  to  read 
everything  before  going  to  press,  the  work  of  the  de- 
partment editors  usually  is  regulated  by  keeping  a 
close  watch  over  their  matter  as  it  appears  from  day 
to  day  and  reprimanding  them  for  errors  committed. 
The  same  method  is  applied  to  staff  correspondents  in 
distant  cities.  Their  course  is  directed  by  telling 
them  what  they  ought  not  to  have  done  and  warning 
them  not  to  let  the  mistake  occur  again.  Words  of 
praise  are  few  and  far  between.  If  a  subeditor  or  cor- 
respondent hears  no  adverse  criticism  from  his  supe- 
rior he  is  fairly  safe  in  concluding  that  his  work  is 
giving  satisfaction. 

Newspapers  frequently  receive  important  pieces  of 
news  that  lack  the  necessary  details  for  presenting 
them  with  due  dignity  of  length.  It  becomes  neces- 
sary to  supply  the  missing  materials  in  the  office.  In 
many  cases  this  can  be  done  with  the  aid  of  the 
"  morgue  "  or  cabinet  of  biographical  and  obituary 
materials  that  is  maintained  in  every  wide-awake 

103 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

newspaper  office.  Sometimes  books  of  reference  will 
stjpply  much  of  the  needed  information.  In  not  a  few 
cases,  however,  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  reporter  or 
editor  to  supply  the  missing  fnaterials  from  his  inner 
consciousness,  drawing  upon  his  memory  or  his  im- 
agination. So  long  as  he  uses  his  imagination  only 
upon  non-essential  details  the  method  appears  to  be 
permissible. 

This  kind  of  license  has  become  absolutely  neces- 
sary in  writing  the  reports  of  events  which  will  be 
past  when  the  paper  appears,  but  which  must  be  de- 
scribed before  they  occur.  Intense  rivalry  for  the 
latest  news  long  ago  drove  editors  to  the  use  of  the 
"  journalistic  imagination"  in  such  cases.  The 
amount  of  .matter  that  is  prepared  in  this  way,  espe- 
cially for  evening  papers,  probably  would  surprise  the 
average  reader.  The  fact  will  account  for  many  of  the 
inaccuracies  of  the  press,  but  on  the  whole  it  is  cause 
for  wonder  that  the  newspapers  can  be  as  accurate  as 
they  are  under  the  circumstances.  The  ethics  of  the 
subject  may  be  left  to  the  individual  reader.  I  merely 
record  the  fact  that  the  practise  exists  to  some  degree 
on  every  enterprising  paper. 


104 


VIII 

QUALIFICATIONS  FOR  JOURNALISM 

To  write  or  edit  copy  for  a  newspaper  is  one  thing ; 
to  perform  the  executive  duties  of  a  managing  or  city 
editor,  or  of  a  night  editor,  is  quite  another  thing; 
while  to  own  a  paper  and  control  its  policy  so  as  to 
make  it  pay  dividends  is  a  different  thing  from  either 
of  the  other  two.  The  young  man  who  wishes  to 
enter  journalism  should  first  ask  himself  what  he 
means  by  the  word — which  department  he  will  seek 
to  enter.  The  business  side  would  need  a  chapter  by 
itself,  written  by  somebody  who  has  made  a  fortune 
through  a  newspaper — or  lost  one.  The  whole  mod- 
ern newspaper  is  a  commercial  enterprise,  but  its 
purely  business  problems  do  not  come  within  the 
scope  of  this  book. 

To  a  large  extent  the  qualifications  that  bring 
financial  success  in  the  newspaper  business  are  the 
same  as  those  that  enable  a  man  to  make  money  in 
any  other  highly  organized  industry.  To  buy  a  large 
newspaper  plant  and  expect  to  make  it  pay  without 
knowing  the  business  is  similar  to  buying  a  steelr  plant 
under  the  same  conditions.  In  either  case  the  pur- 
chaser probably  would  have  to  pay  roundly  for  his 
lessons,  but  if  he  had  a  sound  judgment,  abundant 
capital,  and  good  business  ability  he  might  succeed  in 
either  field.  One  of  the  most  necessary  qualifications 
for  success  as  a  newspaper  owner  is  courage  to  back 

105 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

his  judgment  with  a  large  outlay  of  capital.  The 
stakes  to  be  played  for  are  high  and  the  risks  are 
heavy. 

The  present  volume  concerns  itself  only  with  the 
men  and  women  who  are  employed  to  write  and  edit 
newspapers.  To  some  extent  they  are  like  the  clerks 
in  a  dry-goods  store,  destined  to  handle  the  kind  of 
goods  carried  in  stock.  But  whether  the  newspaper 
man  must  give  his  readers  sensational  or  authentic 
news — whether  he  must  hand  out  Republican  or 
Democratic  political  theories — his  success  in  any  case 
will  depend  upon  certain  qualifications,  natural  and 
acquired. 

Probably  the  most  important  natural  qualification 
for  success  Jh  journalism  is  that  of  mental  alertness — 
the  ability  to  think  quickly  and  accurately.  Powers  of 
swift  observation  and  comprehension  are  more  neces- 
sary than  powers  of  deep  or  sustained  thought.  The 
person  whose  first  and  almost  intuitive  conclusions 
usually  are  correct  is  likely  to  succeed  in  newspaper 
work.  The  man  of  slow  and  plodding  mind  is  not 
likely  to  rise  high  in  journalism.  To  this  extent  the 
journalist  is  born,  and  not  made.  Some  men  know  by 
nature  what  is  interesting.  They  can  pick  up  news, 
they  can  remember,  they  can  put  two  and  two  to- 
gether, they  can  hear,  they  can  see.  These  are  the 
indispensable  qualities  of  the  journalist. 

To  the  quick  mind  and  the  trained  news  instinct 
must  be  added  the  power  of  mental  concentration. 
This  comes  with  practise.  A  person  of  cheery  and 
optimistic  temperament  has  a  better  chance  than  one 
of  somber  or  acrimonious  nature.  People  prefer 
newspapers  that  are  habitually  good-natured  rather 
than  those  that  are  querulous.  A  reader  does  not  wish 
for  a  tirade  at  his  breakfast  table.  The  man  whose 

106 


QUALIFICATIONS    FOR   JOURNALISM 

attitude  toward  life  is  that  of  a  humorous  philosopher 
will  have  a  better  chance  of  success  than  the  moralist 
or  instinctive  reformer.  George  Ade  and  "  Mr. 
Dooley  "  are  good  illustrations  of  this  fact.  Modern 
journalism  has  higher  rewards  for  those  who  can 
amuse  than  for  those  whose  main  object  is  to  instruct. 

But  the  highest  rewards  of  all  are  reserved  for 
those  who  can  command  and  superintend  the  work  of 
news-gathering.  This  requires  the  qualities  of  a  good 
general.  Some  men  are  born  to  command  and  others 
are  born  to  be  led,  but  nobody  can  say  which  is  which 
until  each  is  tested.  The  hurry,  the  emergencies,  and 
the  constant  predicaments  of  life  in  a  newspaper  office 
soon  develop  the  latent  qualities  of  the  men  on  the 
staff.  Promotion  by  natural  selection  does  the  rest. 

"  The  bases  of  success  in  journalism,"  says  Henry 
Watterson,  "  are  good  habits,  good  sense,  and  good 
feeling;  a  good  education,  particularly  in  the  English 
branches,  and  application  both  constant  and  cheerful. 
All  success  is,  of  course,  relative.  Good  and  ill  for- 
tune play  a  part  in  the  life  of  every  man ;  but  honest, 
tireless,  painstaking  activity  may  conquer  ill  fortune, 
as  it  will  certainly  advance  good  fortune.  In  the  de- 
gree that  a  man  adds  to  these  essentials  large  talents 
— special  training,  breadth  of  mind,  and  reach  of 
vision — his  flight  will  be  higher." 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  say  in  a  given  case 
whether  any  man  or  woman  will  be  successful  in 
newspaper  work,  both  because  the  work  itself  brings 
out  unsuspected  powers  and  because  there  are  so 
many  departments  as  to  afford  opportunities  for 
almost  every  kind  of  talent.  There  are  certain  funda- 
mental qualities,  however,  that  are  absolutely  neces- 
sary. Without  industry,  patience,  reliability,  and  per- 
sistency there  can  be  no  success  in  journalism.  No 

107 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

degree  of  sporadic  brilliancy  will  take  the  place  of 
these  solid  traits.  Another  indispensable  faculty  is 
that  of  being  able  to  see  through  shams  and  false- 
hoods. There  are  men  whom  a  lie  can  not  deceive ; 
they  are  the  kind  that  make  excellent  reporters.  Con- 
tact with  the  world  teaches  one  to  see  through  de- 
ceptions, and  the  newspaper  man's  training  is  of  a 
kind  to  make  him  a  keen  judge  of  men.  The  more 
thoroughly  he  learns  this  the  better  will  be  his  chance 
of  promotion. 

No  work  requires  a  more  thorough  knowledge  of 
human  nature  than  that  of  the  newspaper  man,  and 
there  is  no  school  that  can  teach  it  more  quickly  or 
accurately  than  the  strenuous  life  of  the  reporter  in  a 
large  city.  He  must  deal  with  men  and  women  of 
every  class  and  kind,  and  failure  to  approach  each 
in  the  right  way  may  mean  failure  on  an  important 
assignment.  His  work  requires  tact  as  well  as  knowl- 
edge. He  must  learn  to  play  upon  men  as  a  skilful 
violinist  plays  upon  his  instrument,  and  must  know 
just  what  strings  to  touch  in  order  to  bring  out  the 
information  he  seeks.  Long  practise  makes  the  skil- 
ful newspaper  man  an  apt  judge  of  faces,  and  he  usu- 
ally can  tell  by  looking  at  a  man  whether  a  polite 
and  deferential  inquiry,  or  a  blunt  question,  or  a 
threatening  attitude  is  best  under  the  circumstances. 
For  the  reporter  knowledge  is  power,  even  more  em- 
phatically than  for  other  people,  and  knowledge  of 
men  is  the  most  valuable  of  all  wisdom  to  him. 

A  man  who  is  naturally  sociable  and  who  has  a 
pleasing  address  possesses  a  distinct  advantage  as  a 
reporter.  Scarcely  anything  is  more  valuable  in  news- 
paper work  than  a  wide  circle  of  acquaintance,  espe- 
cially among  the  men  and  women  who  are  the  moving 
spirits  of  the  community  and  are  making  its  history. 

108 


QUALIFICATIONS    FOR   JOURNALISM 

As  a  rule,  the  reporter  who  can  call  upon  a  man  or 
woman  as  a  friend  will  be  more  likely  to  secure  the 
information  he  seeks  than  if  he  calls  as  a  stranger. 
This  is  doubly  true  if  he  be  uniformly  honest  and 
honorable  in  his  methods.  Here  is  where  the  rule, 
"  Never  violate  a  promise,"  applies  most  strongly. 
The  reporter  who  can  be  trusted  to  do  exactly  what 
he  says  he  will  do  is  the  one  to  whom  people  will  talk 
most  freely.  The  wider  the  personal  acquaintance  of 
such  a  reporter,  the  better  his  opportunities  of  suc- 
cess and  promotion. 

It  follows  that  the  newspaper  man  must  learn  the 
names  of  people,  and  be  able  to  recall  the  name  in- 
stantly when  he  sees  the  face.  The  need  for  this  is 
inexorable.  Without  it  no  man  can  achieve  complete 
success  either  as  a  reporter  or  as  a  city  editor  or 
managing  editor.  Even  to  an  editorial  writer  or  a 
copy  reader  the  ability  to  remember  names  as  well 
as  faces  is  valuable.  The  man  or  woman  who  intends 
to  succeed  in  journalism  must  determine  to  have  a 
good  memory  for  names,  even  if  it  has  to  be  acquired 
by  writing  the  names  in  a  book  and  studying  them 
like  so  much  Greek.  After  all,  a  poor  memory  for 
names  is  nothing  more  than  a  habitual  lack  of  atten- 
tion. A  little  concentration  of  mind  upon  a  name  the 
first  time  it  is  heard  will  help  wonderfully  in  recalling 
it  the  next  time  the  face  appears.  Almost  anybody 
can  learn  a  foreign  language  and  can  recall  the  right 
words  to  express  a  thousand  different  objects  or  ideas, 
even  though  many  of  the  words  are  used  but  rarely. 
The  same  persons  can  learn  to  remember  names  and 
faces  if  they  will  give  the  matter  enough  attention. 

In  general,  a  good  memory  is  one  of  the  most  valu- 
able qualifications  for  newspaper  work.  So  long  as  a 
reporter  is  on  miscellaneous  assignments  he  stands 
9  109 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

most  in  need  of  a  memory  that  will  hold  a  great  deal 
for  a  short  time,  and  will  yield  up  its  contents  in  logical 
and  orderly  form.  I  happen  to  know  a  man  who 
"  does  politics  "  on  a  large  city  paper,  and  who  can 
talk  with  a  dozen  or  a  score  of  aldermen  or  delegates 
at  a  convention  and  can  return  to  the  office  and  dic- 
tate brief  interviews  with  each  of  those  men  merely 
from  memory.  His  work,  too,  is  remarkably  accu- 
rate. Naturally,  he  holds  a  responsible  position  and 
gets  a  large  salary. 

In  the  domain  of  editorial  writing  there  is  need  of 
a  long  as  well  as  a  voluminous  memory.  The  worker 
in  this  department  must  be  able  to  recall  precedents, 
to  make  comparisons  with  past  events.  He  ought  to 
have  the  politics  and  elections  of  the  last  quarter  of 
a  century  at  his  command ;  at  least  he  ought  to  know 
just  where  to  find  the  facts  and  figures.  But  above 
all  he  should  be  familiar  with  the  main  currents  of 
recent  history.  The  store  of  knowledge  accumulated 
from  year  to  year  by  the  expert  editorial  writer  is  the 
more  valuable  because  much  of  it  can  not  be  found 
in  books.  At  the  same  time  he  should  be  conversant 
with  general  history,  literature,  science,  and  philoso- 
phy. The  encyclopedic  mass  of  knowledge  con- 
tained in  the  heads  of  some  of  the  older  newspaper 
writers  is  amazing.  Men  of  this  kind  are  able  to 
retain  their  positions  long  after  those  with  less  re- 
tentive memories  have  fallen  by  the  wayside.  They 
are  good  illustrations  of  Mr.  Dana's  remark  that  he 
never  saw  a  newspaper  man  who  knew  too  much, 
except  those  who  know  too  many  things  that  were 
not  true. 

Here  arises  the  wider  question  of  whether  a  news- 
paper man  should  have  a  college  education  or  not. 
The  number  of  university  graduates  in  American 

no 


QUALIFICATIONS   FOR   JOURNALISM 

journalism  is  now  greater  than  at  any  time  in  the  past 
and  is  increasing  yearly.  The  fact  is  one  for  con- 
gratulation on  both  sides.  It  is  among  the  best  augu- 
ries for  the  future  of  the  American  press.  At  the  same 
time,  it  will  not  do  to  overlook  the  fact  that  the 
majority  of  newspaper  writers,  like  the  majority  of 
their  readers,  have  not  a  college  education. 

Charles  A.  Dana  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  efficacy 
of  Latin  and  Greek.  He  never  lost  an  opportunity  to 
combat  Horace  Greeley's  theory  that  the  only  way  to 
learn  journalism  is  to  "  sleep  on  newspapers  and  eat 
ink."  He  said  that  if  he  were  choosing  a  young  man 
to  report  a  prize-fight,  or  a  religious  congress,  or  a 
political  convention,  he  would  rather  have  one  who 
had  read  Sophocles  and  Tacitus,  and  who  could  scan 
every  ode  of  Horace,  than  one  who  had  never  done 
these  things.  His  reason  for  preferring  college  men 
was  sound.  He  wanted  men  who  could  write  pure 
English,  and  he  believed  that  those  who  had  studied 
the  roots  of  the  language  could  do  it  better  than  those 
who  had  not.  In  like  manner  he  advised  every  would- 
be  journalist  to  go  to  college,  if  possible,  in  order  to 
get  a  fundamental  knowledge  of  the  modern  sciences, 
of  history,  of  political  economy,  civil  government,  and 
all  the  other  branches  of  knowledge  taught  in  the 
higher  schools.  He  said  the  newspaper  man  must 
know  whether  the  theology  of  the  parson  is  sound, 
whether  the  physiology  of  the  doctor  is  genuine,  and 
whether  the  law  of  the  lawyer  is  good  law  or  not. 
Since  the  newspaper  man  can  not  know  too  much,  it 
behooves  him  to  get  a  college  education  if  he  can, 
and  then  to  take  his  post-graduate  course  in  the  city 
room  of  a  metropolitan  newspaper. 

While  Mr.  Dana's  view  is  essentially  sound,  it  is 
easy  to  overestimate  the  value  of  a  college  course  as 

in 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

an  aid  to  success  in  journalism.  In  editorial  writing 
and  other  critical  branches  it  is  extremely  valuable. 
In  gaining  the  higher  executive  positions  it  is  deba- 
table whether  four  years  in  college  are  worth  as  much 
as  the  same  four  years  spent  in  practical  reporting 
work.  The  position  of  managing  editor  is  the  highest 
within  the  reach  of  newspaper  employees.  The  men 
who  rise  to  that  position  are  not  usually  college  men. 
The  collegians  drift  into  the  editorial  department  and 
reach  the  head  of  that,  but  in  the  majority  of  cases 
it  is  the  reporter  who  has  never  gone  to  college  who 
forges  to  the  top  and  captures  an  executive  position. 
The  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  Knowledge  of  men 
and  of  the  city  is  worth  more  to  a  city  editor  or  a 
managing  ^editor  than  knowledge  of  books.  Famil- 
iarity with  city-hall  affairs  and  ward  politics  and  poli- 
ticians is  more  valuable  to  him  than  familiarity  with 
the  philosophies  or  with  the  integral  calcuhis.  A 
practical  knowledge  of  how  to  meet  the  thousand  and 
one  emergencies  of  newspaper  life  is  worth  more  in 
an  executive  position  than  Latin,  or  English  litera- 
ture, or  American  history,  valuable  as  these  branches 
are  to  every  newspaper  man.  The  college  man  culti- 
vates literary  tastes  and  gets  more  or  less  out  of  touch 
with  the  practical  world.  The  man  who  goes  directly 
into  reporting  cultivates  a  "  nose  for  news  "  and  gets 
into  the  heart  and  spirit  of  worldly  things.  He  is 
taking  a  technical  course,  while  the  college  man 
is  taking  a  liberal  arts  course.  In  some  respects  the 
college  graduate  will  overtake  the  other  man  and 
pass  him  in  a  few  years,  but  usually  not  in  the  line 
of  promotion  that  leads  up  to  a  managing  editorship. 
If  salary  and  rank  are  the  measure  of  success,  and  if 
existing  conditions  are  a  fair  criterion,  then  a  college 
course  is  not  always  the  best  training  for  a  newspaper 

112 


QUALIFICATIONS   FOR   JOURNALISM 

man.  Executive  ability  is  the  quality  that  counts  for 
most  in  modern  journalism  as  in  modern  industries. 
This  is  cultivated  by  practise  and  not  by  study.  All 
knowledge  is  likely  to  be  useful  to  the  newspaper  man 
at  some  point  in  his  career,  but  no  amount  of  mere 
information  can  compensate  for  a  lack  of  training  in 
the  practical  art  of  getting  things  accomplished. 

The  question  whether  a  young  man  who  intends 
entering  journalism  should  go  to  college  demands  a 
different  answer  in  different  cases.  If  he  has  abun- 
dant means  and  is  of  a  studious  nature,  he  should  go 
through  college  by  all  means,  for  the  broad  intellec- 
tual life  of  the  well-educated  man  is  in  itself  a  suffi- 
cient reward  for  the  time  spent  at  college.  But  if  he 
is  pinched  for  funds  and  is  by  nature  fitted  for  action 
rather  than  for  contemplation,  it  will  be  wiser  for  him 
to  go  at  once  into  the  work  of  reporting.  His  intel- 
lectual horizon  will  be  narrower,  but  his  chances  of 
becoming  a  managing  editor  will  be  increased  rather 
than  lessened.  If  he  has  prefaced  his  newspaper  work 
with  a  few  years  in  business  pursuits  it  will  be  all  the 
better.  Mr.  Dana  always  said  his  six  years'  experi- 
ence as  a  boy  in  a  dry-goods  store  in  Buffalo  was 
invaluable  to  him.  A  knowledge  of  business  methods 
is  a  necessity,  while  a  college  education  may  be  a 
luxury.  Every  newspaper  man  ought  to  have  at 
least  a  high-school  education ;  if  he  is  an  omnivorous 
and  thoughtful  reader  he  can  teach  himself  most  of 
the  book  knowledge  he  will  need  beyond  that. 

The  average  American  child  goes  to  school  only 
three  years.  It  is  for  the  average  American  man  and 
woman  that  the  newspaper  is  written,  and  it  often  hap- 
pens that  the  editor  who  has  never  been  to  college 
can  get  closer  to  the  people  and  give  them  what  they 
want  to  read  more  successfully  than  the  man  who  has 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

been  lifted  into  another  plane  of  thought  by  a  colle- 
giate course.  The  intellectual  snobbishness  that  some- 
times sticks  to  the  university  graduate  all  the  rest  of 
his  life  is  a  handicap  in  newspaper  work. 

The  proper  education  for  a  man  intending  to  enter 
journalism  is  the  ordinary  education  of  a  cultivated 
man.  All  the  knowledge  he  can  assimilate  on  every 
known  subject  is  what  he  needs.  A  broad  reading  of 
good  books  in  literature,  history,  politics,  arid  polit- 
ical economy  will  be  valuable  to  him.  Whether  he 
does  his  reading  in  a  college  or  during  his  evenings 
at  home  after  the  day's  work,  there  are  certain  books 
with  which  he  can  not  be  too  familiar.  Chief  among 
these  is  the  Bible.  Considered  merely  as  a  model  of 
simple  and  elegant  English  and  as  an  exhaustless  store 
of  vital  human  truth,  there  is  no  book  that  will  bet- 
ter repay  careful  and  constant  study  than  the  Bible, 
Its  anecdotes,  its  imagery,  and  its  language  have  be- 
come part  of  the  warp  and  woof  of  civilized  thought 
and  life.  Next  to  the  Bible,  a  familiarity  with  Shake- 
speare will  have  the  most  universal  and  permanent 
value  to  the  writer.  It  would  be  well,  too,  if  every 
newspaper  man  would  begin  his  career  by  reading 
Milton's  majestic  speech  for  the  Liberty  of  Unli- 
censed Printing,  which  is  the  most  eloquent  plea  for 
a  free  press  ever  penned. 

In  politics,  the  first  thing  to  read  and  to  master, 
principle  by  principle,  is  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  Mr.  Dana's  motto,  "  Hold  fast  to  the 
Constitution,  whatever  happens,"  may  be  adopted 
safely  by  the  humblest  as  well  as  the  highest  worker 
in  American  journalism.  A  study  of  the  Federalist 
papers,  and  of  all  the  subsequent  stages  of  our  polit- 
ical history,  should  follow  in  time.  American  politics 
is  a  hard  and  complicated  subject,  but  no  man  can  get 

114 


QUALIFICATIONS   FOR   JOURNALISM 

very  high  as  an  editorial  writer  without  mastering  its 
main  points  and  imbibing  the  spirit  of  our  institu- 
tions. A  careful  reading  of  the  State  constitutions, 
especially  that  of  your  own  State,  is  advisable.  If 
the  young  journalist  can  find  time  and  opportunity 
to  master  the  fundamental  principles  of  law  as  ex- 
pounded by  Blackstone,  it  will  be  time  well  spent. 
It  is  needless  to  specify  further  regarding  the  best 
books  to  read.  If  the  lines  just  indicated  are  fol- 
lowed up  and  broadened  to  suit  the  tastes  and  special 
needs  of  the  reader,  they  will  lead  toward  journalistic 
success. 

Along  with  this  expansion  of  knowledge,  and 
ranking  above  it  in  practical  value,  must  come  a 
patient  and  thorough  drill  in  the  art  of  expression. 
There  is  a  certain  ability,  force,  and  facility  of  written 
utterance  that  comes  only  with  daily  practise.  As  on 
the  stage,  so  in  journalism,  the  highest  efficiency  is 
attained  by  combining  theoretical  study  and  technical 
practise  at  one  and  the  same  time.  The  reporter  who 
spends  his  spare  hours  in  reading  gets  this  union  of 
the  two  elements.  The  wisest  step  the  colleges  have 
taken  in  the  direction  of  teaching  journalism  is  that 
of  giving  students  daily  drill  in  writing  sketches  of 
incidents  that  come  under  their  own  eyes.  To  see 
things  as  they  are  and  to  tell  what  he  sees  in  simple, 
lucid,  and  elegant  English — this  is  the  first  thing  the 
reporter  must  learn.  He  should  drill  himself  in  wri- 
ting swift,  vivid,  yet  graceful  accounts  of  everything 
that  comes  under  his  notice,  cultivating  picturesque- 
ness  of  statement,  yet  never  at  the  cost  of  naturalness, 
dignity,  clearness,  or  brevity. 

One  of  the  best  ways  of  mastering  the  art  of  con- 
ciseness is  to  read  a  column  story  in  a  newspaper  and 
put  the  gist  of  it  into  a  dozen  lines,  omitting  nothing 

"5 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

essential.  This  is  a  kind  of  work  that  must  be  done 
every  day  in  a  newspaper  office.  A  good  way  to  cul- 
tivate a  choice  diction  is  to  read  a  magazine  article 
by  a  good  writer  and  endeavor  to  rewrite  it  in  your 
own  words  and  in  as  good  language  as  the  author's. 
Benjamin  Franklin  owed  his  charming  and  lucid  style 
largely  to  the  long  and  patient  drill  to  which  he  sub- 
jected himself  by  reading  Addison's  Spectator  papers 
and  trying  to  rewrite  them  from  memory.  Senator 
Hoar  has  said  that  a  still  better  method  of  gaining 
command  of  one's  language  is  to  translate  from  a  for- 
eign tongue.  The  advantage  in  this  exercise  lies  in 
the  fact  that  the  translator  is  compelled  to  find  the 
best  word  himself,  whereas  in  the  other  case  he  may 
unconsciously  repeat  it  from  memory. 

At  best,  the  art  of  verbal  expression  is  sadly  in- 
adequate. As  Barrett  Wendell  has  said,  the  written 
or  spoken  utterance,  by  irrevocable  fate,  can  be  "  only 
a  feeble  shadow  of  the  reality — a  symbol  to  which 
nothing  but  deep  imaginative  sympathy  can  give  any- 
thing like  the  significance  which  the  author  longed  to 
pack  into  it."  It  is  important  that  the  "  feeble 
shadow  "  should  be  the  best  obtainable,  and  nothing 
can  insure  this  except  an  unremitting  study  of  the 
art  of  fitting  words  to  thoughts.  This  drill  can  not 
begin  too  early,  and  no  writer  ever  reaches  the  point 
where  he  can  cease  to  practise  it  almost  daily  without 
losing  some  of  his  skill. 

A  knowledge  of  shorthand  is  not  an  essential  part 
of  the  reporter's  equipment.  Its  value  is  merely  inci- 
dental. If  a  young  man  or  woman  happens  to  possess 
this  accomplishment,  it  will  be  found  to  be  a  valuable 
convenience  in  reportorial  work  of  almost  any  kind, 
but  it  scarcely  would  pay  to  take  a  special  course  in 
shorthand.  Verbatim  reports  of  speeches  are  used 

116 


QUALIFICATIONS   FOR  JOURNALISM 

only  rarely  now,  and  usually  they  are  furnished  in 
manuscript  form  by  the  speaker.  When  it  becomes 
necessary  to  take  down  a  speech  in  shorthand  the 
large  city  papers  employ  professional  stenographers 
for  the  purpose.  The  work  of  the  reporter  is  to  get 
tfie  gist  and  spirit  of  what  is  said  by  those  whom  he 
interviews,  and  to  put  it  into  more  condensed  lan- 
guage than  that  of  the  speaker.  If  he  tries  to  take 
down  every  word  he  may  miss  the  salient  points,  and 
make  a  verbose  and  wooden  report.  In  this  respect  a 
knowledge  of  shorthand  may  become  an  injury  rather 
than  a  help.  Its  liability  to  abuse  has  caused  city 
editors  to  look  with  suspicion  rather  than  with  favor 
upon  a  reportorial  candidate  who  names  shorthand 
among  his  leading  qualifications.  As  a  personal  con- 
venience, however,  when  rightly  used,  the  ability  to 
write  shorthand  is  worth  all  the  trouble  it  takes  to 
acquire  it. 

In  the  last  few  years  the  ability  to  use  the  type- 
writing machine  has  become  an  essential  qualification 
for  the  reporter.  Nearly  all  the  large  newspapers  now 
furnish  a  machine  to  each  reporter,  and  expect  him 
to  write  all  his  copy  upon  it.  The  knack  of  operating 
a  typewriter  is  not  difficult  to  learn,  but  the  ability 
to  compose  upon  it  offhand  is  not  acquired  quite  so 
easily.  A  man  of  mature  years,  in  attempting  to  learn 
the  new  method,  often  finds  it  almost  impossible  to 
get  his  thoughts  to  flow  as  readily  through  the  keys 
as  through  the  pen  or  pencil.  It  is  all  a  matter  of 
practise,  however,  and  the  knack  should  be  acquired. 
A  typewriter  with  the  standard  keyboard  should  be 
selected,  for  time  spent  in  learning  some  unusual 
arrangement  of  the  letters  will  be  wasted. 

The  newspaper  of  the  future  will  be  written  almost 
wholly  on  the  typewriter.  The  change  is  not  due  so 

117 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

much  to  the  greater  rapidity  with  which  copy  can  be 
produced  as  to  the  important  gain  in  clearness  and 
in  the  saving  of  time  for  the  copy  reader  and  com- 
positor. The  introduction  of  the  typewriter  has  re- 
duced the  number  of  typographical  errors  at  least 
one-half.  The  gain  in  the  printer's  time  alone  is 
worth  the  cost  of  the  machines.  By  all  means,  let 
the  young  journalist  master  the  typewriter  at  his 
earliest  opportunity. 

Some  of  the  most  successful  newspaper  men  now 
go  a  step  farther,  and  do  much  of  their  writing  by 
dictation.  In  some  cases  they  employ  stenographers, 
but  more  frequently  they  dictate  their  matter  directly 
to  an  expert  operator  of  the  typewriter.  In  this  way 
a  reporter  can  prepare  three  or  four  columns  of  mat- 
ter in  the  time  ordinarily  consumed  in  writing  a  col- 
umn. Like  the  dictation  of  business  letters,  this  proc- 
ess requires  practise  in  order  to  be  successful  in  it, 
but  it  is  becoming  more  and  more  necessary  in  jour- 
nalism. The  demand  for  speed  and  for  a  voluminous 
treatment  of  important  subjects  makes  the  knack  of 
dictation  almost  imperative.  Sometimes  one  man 
finds  himself  in  possession  of  the  materials  for  an  arti- 
cle which  must  fill  five  or  six  columns  in  the  next 
issue  of  his  paper.  If  he  can  talk  off  his  story  to  a 
stenographer  or  to  a  typewriter  expert  he  can  get 
out  of  his  dilemma  easily  and  creditably,  while  if  he 
attempts  to  write  it  out  he  will  make  a  partial  failure 
of  it.  Descriptive  work,  such  as  the  reporting  of  a 
long  street  procession  in  detail,  can  be  done  best  by 
dictation.  If  the  copy  contains  crudities  or  redundant 
words  it  will  lose  these  in  going  through  the  copy 
reader's  mill.  Apparently  the  power  to  dictate  copy 
is  destined  to  become  more  and  more  necessary  as 
a  qualification  for  the  highest  reportorial  positions. 

118 


QUALIFICATIONS    FOR   JOURNALISM 

This,  however,  is  not  a  matter  that  needs  to  concern 
the  beginner. 

To  sum  up  the  subject,  the  qualities  most  needed 
for  success  in  journalism  are  an  alert  mind,  an  intui- 
tive judgment  of  news  values,  industry,  honesty,  tact, 
patience,  resourcefulness,  and  a  liberal  knowledge  of 
the  world  and  of  human  nature.  The  ability  to  score 
a  "  beat "  will  be  appreciated  more  highly  than  the 
ability  to  read  ten  languages.  A  patient  plodder  who 
can  be  depended  upon  will  fare  better  than  a  brilliant 
writer  who  is  unreliable.  The  man  of  intemperate 
habits  no  longer  has  a  place  or  a  chance  in  the  strenu- 
ous world  of  metropolitan  journalism.  The  reporter 
who  imagines  it  is  smarter  to  "  fake  "  a  story  than  to 
work  hard  and  get  the  facts  will  fall  by  the  wayside. 
Success  follows  the  man  whom  a  lie  can  not  deceive 
and  who  scorns  to  resort  to  deception  himself.  Fer- 
tility of  resource,  self-confidence,  quickness  of  percep- 
tion and  of  expression,  and  a  power  to  absorb  and 
retain  knowledge  of  every  kind  are  among  the  most 
important  qualifications  for  newspaper  work.  Per- 
sonal magnetism  and  tact  count  for  more  than  depth 
of  learning.  A  college  education  is  valuable,  but  by 
no  means  indispensable;  often  its  greatest  value  lies 
in  the  self-confidence  it  inspires.  The  ability  to  get 
a  piece  of  news  in  spite  of  all  obstacles  is  prized  more 
highly  in  a  newspaper  office  than  a  mastery  of  the 
finest  literary  style,  but  the  reporter  who  can  combine 
a  breezy  and  pleasing  style  with  the  ability  to  "  hus- 
tle "  is  the  one  who  will  get  the  best  assignments  and 
the  speediest  promotion. 


119 


IX 

THE  SUNDAY  SUPPLEMENT 

No  department  of  the  American  newspaper  has 
undergone  more  surprising  expansion  in  the  last 
twenty-five  years  than  the  Sunday  supplement.  From 
the  ordinary  week-day  size  of  eight  or  twelve  pages 
the  Sunday  newspaper  has  grown  to  six  or  eight  times 
those  dimensions.  The  news  section  of  this  bulky 
affair  is  essentially  the  same  in  size  and  contents  as 
the  week-day  editions  of  the  same  paper.  All  the  rest 
is  an  overgrown  supplement,  filled  with  miscellany 
and  advertisements,  and  written  by  a  separate  staff  of 
reporters  and  editors.  The  advertisements,  of  course, 
are  the  real  cause  for  the  abnormal  size  of  the  Sunday 
paper.  The  reading  matter  must  be  increased  in  pro- 
portion to  the  number  of  advertisements,  while  both 
the  "  ads  "  and  the  reading  matter  increase  with  the 
circulation.  The  desire  to  get  advertisements  into 
Sunday  papers  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  some 
papers  with  a  daily  circulation  of  less  than  100,000 
copies  have  a  Sunday  edition  of  more  than  250,000. 

The  getting  together  of  this  wealth-producing  sup- 
plement or  aggregation  of  supplements,  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  Sunday  editor,  who  usually  works  every 
day  in  the  week  except  Sunday.  He  begins  on  Mon- 
day morning  to  edit  the  matter  for  certain  sections  of 
next  Sunday's  paper;  in  fact,  some  parts  of  his  sup- 
plement may  have  to  go  to  press  more  than  a  week 

120 


THE   SUNDAY   SUPPLEMENT 

in  advance.  In  some  respects  his  task  is  like  that 
of  a  magazine  editor,  for  he  must  read  scores  of  manu- 
scripts submitted  by  outside  contributors.  In  other 
respects  the  Sunday  editor's  work  is  like  that  of  a 
managing  editor,  for  he  must  be  on  the  watch  con- 
stantly for  the  latest  topics  that  are  uppermost  in 
the  public  mind,  and  must  be  fertile  in  new  ideas  and 
schemes  for  "  features."  He  needs  both  the  news 
and  the  literary  instincts.  He  also  should  have  good 
artistic  judgment,  for  the  illustrations  are  among  the 
most  important  features  of  the  Sunday  supplement. 
In  short,  the  Sunday  editor  should  be  a  man  of  good 
executive  powers  and  of  all-around  journalistic  abil- 
ity. The  men  who  do  this  work  on  the  largest  papers 
get  salaries  ranking  with  those  of  the  editorial  writers. 
They  are  almost  always  men  who  have  served  faith- 
ful apprenticeships  as  reporters  and  copy  readers  and 
have  shown  more  than  ordinary  ability. 

The  matter  with  which  the  Sunday  supplement  is 
filled  is  of  a  nature  half-way  between  that  of  the  daily 
paper  and  that  of  the  popular  monthly  magazine.  It 
is  miscellany  of  a  more  or  less  newsy  nature,  super- 
ficial but  entertaining,  and  treating  current  topics 
more  at  length  than  is  possible  in  a  week-day  edition. 
Articles  of  this  kind  are  known  technically  as  "  Sun- 
day specials."  The  word  "  special,"  in  this  sense, 
should  not  be  confused  with  the  term  "  special  de- 
spatch," used  to  designate  telegraphic  matter  sent  by 
the  paper's  own  correspondents.  As  a  rule,  the  spe- 
cial article  is  paid  for  by  the  column,  the  rates  varying 
from  $10  a  column  on  some  New  York  papers  to  $5 
on  Chicago  papers,  and  still  lower  figures  in  the 
smaller  towns.  Many  newspaper  writers  in  the  largest 
cities  make  good  incomes  solely  through  special  wri- 
ting. This  kind  of  work,  like  that  of  the  reporter, 

121 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

usually  is  anonymous,  though  it  often  requires  more 
talent  and  wider  knowledge  than  ordinary  reporting. 

The  writing  of  special  articles  is  something  that 
may  be  done  by  outside  contributors.  The  Sunday 
paper,  like  the  monthly  magazine,  is  open  to  any 
bright  writer  who  can  produce  what  the  editor  hap- 
pens to  want  at  the  particular  moment  when  he  de- 
sires it.  It  is  entirely  legitimate  for  anybody  to  try  to 
get  into  the  journalistic  circle  by  this  avenue,  but  it 
is  only  fair  to  say  that  the  road  is  likely  to  be  thorny 
for  inexperienced  feet.  Every  Sunday  editor  has  his 
staff  of  experienced  helpers,  some  of  whom  write  on 
salaries,  and  others  "  on  space."  To  these  he  gives 
suggestions  and  assignments  covering  all  the  chief 
topics  which  he  wishes  to  treat  each  week.  It  follows 
naturally  that  there  is  little  space  left  for  the  outsider. 
His  matter  must  be  of  exceptional  novelty  or  timeli- 
ness in  order  to  find  a  place  in  the  Sunday  editor's 
columns. 

If  the  contributor  happens  to  be  an  expert  or  a 
man  of  note  in  his  line,  his  name  often  will  carry  his 
matter  into  print.  The  newspapers  are  increasingly 
partial  to  ex  cathedra  utterances  by  men  who  have 
made  reputations  in  special  lines.  But  there  also  is 
a  place  for  the  anonymous  article  written  by  the  ob- 
scure contributor,  provided  it  be  of  the  right  kind. 
It  must  not  be  as  heavy  as  the  average  magazine  arti- 
cle, nor  may  it  conflict  in  any  way  with  the  politics  or 
policy  of  the  paper.  It  may  be  fiction,  fact,  criticism, 
or  humor,  but  in  any  case  it  must  have  the  light 
touch-and-go  quality  that  lends  ephemeral  charm  to 
American  newspapers. 

The  typical  "  special "  is  a  long  article  making 
some  pretensions  to  exhaustiveness  or  to  authoritative 
utterance.  It  may  combine  the  three  styles  of  matter 

122 


THE   SUNDAY   SUPPLEMENT 

of  which  a  newspaper  is  composed — news,  comment, 
and  general  reading  matter — or  it  may  be  confined  to 
any  two  or  any  one  of  these  elements.  It  may  be 
simply  a  mass  of  new  and  interesting  facts  on  a  timely 
subject,  or  it  may  be  an  extended  editorial  article, 
or  it  may  be  an  essay  on  more  or  less  ancient  history. 
The  news  special  always  is  the  most  salable.  The 
critical  contribution  is  handicapped  by  the  necessity 
of  making  its  opinions  tally  with  the  policy  of  the 
paper.  Finally,  the  special  that  is  chiefly  a  restate- 
ment of  facts  already  more  or  less  widely  known  has 
little  hope  of  acceptance.  Its  only  chance  will  depend 
upon  the  skill  with  which  the  story  is  retold  and  the 
timeliness  of  such  a  recapitulation  of  the  subject. 

Timeliness  is  the  essence  of  value  in  all  newspaper 
work,  and  even  the  Sunday  special  affords  no  excep- 
tion. A  news  article  finds  its  cause  in  the  event  which 
it  chronicles.  The  editorial  rests  its  excuse  for  ex- 
istence upon  the  news  that  has  provoked  comment. 
In  the  same  way  every  special  story  should  have  its 
peg  of  news  to  hang  upon.  Like  a  fresh  topic  in  con- 
versation, it  should  be  suggested  by  something  that 
has  just  happened  or  been  said,  and  should  not  imi- 
tate the  deaf  old  lady  in  one  of  Dickens's  novels,  who 
was  wont  to  remark,  apropos  of  nothing,  that  there 
were  mile-stones  on  the  road  to  Dover.  This  rule,  of 
course,  does  not  exclude  certain  literary  products 
that  are  their  own  excuse  for  being.  The  quaint,  curi- 
ous, humorous,  or  tragic  always  are  legal  tender  in 
a  newspaper  office.  But  description,  biography,  and 
history,  which  fill  a  large  part  of  the  Sunday  paper, 
always  require  the  "  peg  pf  news "  to  render  them 
timely  and  acceptable. 

Upon  what  subjects  shall  the  would-be  contributor 
write?  The  best  answer  to  this  question  is  found  by 

123 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

looking  at  your  favorite  paper  and  noting  what  the 
editor  thought  his  readers  would  be  interested  in  last 
week.  Almost  any  copy  of  a  large  Sunday  paper 
will  be  found  to  include  articles  on  politics,  sociology, 
romance  and  adventure,  literature  and  art,  biography, 
local  affairs,  women's  interests,  animal  stories,  and 
the  like,  besides  fiction,  poetry,  and  humor.  Here  are 
some  of  the  topics  treated  in  one  issue  of  a  typical 
paper :  How  the  city  loses  a  million  dollars  a  year  by 
petty  thieves;  a  Jewish  society's  scheme  of  practical 
philanthropy  without  almsgiving ;  Australia's  new  plan 
of  government ;  how  an  Irish  mother's  wit  saved 
her  criminal  family  from  punishment;  lore  of  the  re- 
galia used  at  the  coronation  of  King  Edward  VII; 
a  man  to  whom  two  thousand  women  have  proposed ; 
gazelle-hunting  on  a  locomotive  in  Brazil ;  an  Iowa 
man  who  has  not  been  off  his  farm  for  eleven  years ; 
favorite  novels  of  popular  novelists;  romantic  career 
of  a  wealthy  and  distinguished  man  who  died  a  pau- 
per ;  character  sketch  of  the  president  of  a  leading  rail- 
way; how  a  college  professor  trained  microbes  2s 
pets ;  pagan  origin  of  many  Christian  doctrines ;  artis- 
tic ideals  and  dress  reform. 

This  list  is  typical  of  the  contents  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful Sunday  papers.  It  covers  a  wide  range  of 
subjects,  and  has  something  of  interest  for  almost  any 
kind  of  reader.  It  mingles  the  frivolous  and  trashy 
with  the  dignified  and  thoughtful,  appealing  at  once 
to  the  ignorant  and  the  educated.  Such  a  paper  pre- 
sents opportunities  to  writers  almost  as  diverse  in 
their  tastes  and  talents  as  the  readers  themselves. 
Mr.  Smalley  once  remarked  that  he  knew  only  one 
definition  for  news :  "  It  is  what  people  will  want  to 
read  to-morrow  morning."  The  Sunday  editor's  test 
of  his  materials  is  equally  comprehensive.  Any  topic 

124 


THE   SUNDAY   SUPPLEMENT 

with  human  interest  in  it  may  be  acceptable  to  him. 
What  he  wishes  is  something  that  you  would  like  to 
read,  and  that  half  the  people  in  your  street  would 
like  to  read. 

The  special  article  presents  one  avenue  of  access 
to  regular  work  on  a  newspaper  staff.  There  are  two 
ways  in  which  an  outsider  may  approach  the  editor 
with  matter  of  this  kind.  One  is  to  go  to  him  and 
give  him  a  brief  verbal  outline  of  one  or  more  sub- 
jects which  seem  to  give  promise  of  good  stories,  and 
to  ask  him  whether  he  could  use  an  article  on  one  of 
these  topics.  The  other  is  to  go  ahead  and  write  out 
the  stories  and  send  them  to  him  for  his  acceptance 
or  rejection.  The  finished  article  will  have  exactly 
as  good  a  chance  when  sent  by  mail  as  if  you  handed 
it  to  the  editor  in  person  and  took  up  his  time  telling 
what  you  have  written  or  what  you  think  of  your  own 
production.  All  specials  or  sketches  or  fiction  tales 
intended  for  use  in  the  Sunday  paper  should  be  ad- 
dressed to  the  Sunday  editor,  and  not,  as  so  many 
beginners  mistakenly  imagine,  to  the  literary  editor. 
The  literary  editor  of  a  newspaper  is  the  book- 
reviewer,  and  usually  he  has  nothing  to  do  with  manu- 
scripts of  a  literary  nature  intended  for  publication  in 
the  paper. 

Whether  the  story  be  submitted  in  embryo  or  in 
its  completed  form,  it  is  equally  likely  to  be  rejected 
in  the  majority  of  cases.  This  may  be  because  it  is 
not  suitable  for  the  purposes  of  the  editor,  or  it  may 
be  because  he  already  has  covered  the  subject.  To 
avoid  doing  needless  work,  therefore,  the  experi- 
enced special  writer  usually  submits  the  subjects  to 
the  editor  before  going  to  work  on  the  story;  but  it 
is  better  for  the  beginner  to  submit  the  completed 
manuscript,  because  he  must  give  proof  of  his  compe- 
10  125 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

tence  as  a  writer.  He  should  write  his  name  and  ad- 
dress in  an  upper  corner  of  the  first  page,  and  should 
enclose  stamps  for  the  return  of  the  manuscript  in 
case  of  its  rejection.  He  should  not  forget  to  leave 
nearly  one-half  of  the  first  page  blank,  in  order  that 
the  editor  may  have  space  in  which  to  write  the  head- 
lines. The  author  is  not  expected  to  write  a  display 
heading,  but  it  is  well  to  indicate  in  a  few  words 
the  nature  of  the  subject  treated.  The  manuscript 
should  be  sent  flat  or  folded,  and  should  never  be 
rolled. 

Usually  it  is  not  necessary  to  enclose  a  letter  along 
with  the  copy,  the  address  and  stamps  being  suffi- 
ciently clear  in  their  meaning.  It  will  do  no  harm, 
however,  to*  write  a  note  of  a  few  lines  telling  the 
editor  that  the  story  is  sent  for  use  in  his  columns  at 
his  customary  space  rates.  When  dealing  with  papers 
in  the  smaller  towns,  it  is  especially  advisable  to  make 
it  clear  in  this  way  that  pay  is  expected,  as  some  of 
them  are  willing  to  print  articles  over  the  writer's 
signature  when  contributed  gratis,  but  are  unwilling 
to  pay  for  matter  of  this  kind.  The  metropolitan 
journals,  as  a  rule,  go  on  the  principle  that  anything 
not  worth  paying  for  is  not  worth  printing;  hence  a 
letter  to  the  editor  seldom  is  necessary,  and  when 
written  should  be  as  brief  as  possible. 

When  such  an  article  is  rejected  by  one  paper  it 
should  be  mailed  promptly  to  another,  always  with 
the  necessary  postage  for  return,  and  this  process 
should  be  continued  until  the  story  finds  the  right 
place,  or  until  its  unfitness  is  fully  demonstrated. 
With  "  space  "  stories  of  this  kind,  as  with  magazine 
articles,  the  author  must  expect  many  rejections  as 
a  matter  of  course.  A  story  may  be  refused  by  half 
a  dozen  papers  and  be  welcomed  by  the  seventh.  It 

126 


THE   SUNDAY   SUPPLEMENT 

is  no  unusual  thing  to  mail  a  magazine  article  to  a 
dozen  different  publications  before  finding  the  right 
one.  Persistency  counts  for  a  great  deal,  and  the  spe- 
cial writer  has  need  of  a  liberal  share  of  it.  He  is 
sure  to  be  subjected  to  many  disappointments.  To 
counterbalance  these,  he  must  remember  that  if  his 
article  has  any  real  merit  it  will  find  acceptance  sooner 
or  later.  He  should  remember,  also,  that  every  time 
an  outsider  submits  an  article  on  space  he  is  compe- 
ting with  a  whole  newspaper  staff  and  with  all  the 
news  associations  and  syndicates  besides.  The  be- 
ginner also  should  not  forget  that  each  time  he  offers 
such  an  article  to  the  editor  he  is  asking  for  the  full 
pay  of  a  writer  who  has  spent  years  in  learning  the 
profession.  He  should  be  surprised  when  one  of  his 
stories  is  accepted  rather  than  when  it  is  rejected. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  that  free-lance 
work  of  this  kind  is  likely  to  be  unreliable  as  a 
means  of  keeping  the  wolf  from  the  door.  The  chief 
difficulty  is  the  same  as  that  which  confronts  the 
magazine  writer:  one  never  can  be  sure  of  what  is 
going  to  meet  the  tastes  and  wishes  of  the  editor. 
There  is  an  inevitable  percentage  of  wasted  work. 
The  best  that  one  can  do  is  to  study  carefully  the 
nature  of  the  articles  a  periodical  has  published  in  the 
past  and  write  something  that  will  conform  as  nearly 
as  possible  to  what  seems  to  be  the  editor's  standard. 
The  outsider  can  not  reasonably  hope  to  make  a  liv- 
ing by  writing  Sunday  specials.  The  real  value  of 
the  work,  in  most  instances,  is  that  it  affords  a  foot- 
hold and  opens  up  a  way  to  steady  work  of  some 
kind  at  steady  wages. 

An  editor  places  little  reliance  upon  recommenda- 
tions or  talk  about  what  a  new  writer  can  do.  What 
he  wants  is  a  sample  of  good  work.  After  a  Sunday 

127 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

editor  or  managing  editor  has  seen  and  accepted  a 
few  special  stories,  he  will  for  the  first  time  think 
seriously  of  giving  the  author  of  them  a  regular 
assignment  or  a  permanent  position,  if  there  happens 
to  be  a  vacancy  on  his  staff.  The  Sunday  special 
offers  a  short  cut,  rough  and  thorny,  into  regular 
journalism.  It  is  not  so  good  a  mode  of  entrance  as 
the  way  that  lies  through  the  country  newspaper  office 
and  the  local  room,  but  it  is  the  best  that  is  open  to 
many  persons,  and  it  is  perfectly  legitimate.  One 
point  in  its  favor  is  that  stories  of  this  kind  can  be 
written  at  home.  Almost  any  city  or  town  will  fur- 
nish at  least  a  few  subjects.  Good  practise  may  be 
had  by  contributing  first  to  the  smaller  local  papers 
before  trying  the  metropolitan  dailies. 

The  life  story  of  a  noted  man,  written  when  he  and 
his  wife  are  about  to  celebrate  their  golden  wedding, 
or  just  before  his  death,  always  is  "  good  stuff."  Odd, 
humorous,  or  tragic  incidents  in  the  history  of  a  town, 
or  school,  or  church,  or  club — recalled  at  a  moment 
when  for  any  reason  public  attention  is  directed 
toward  that  subject — will  make  salable  matter  if  writ- 
ten in  a  simple  and  gossipy  style.  A  neighborhood 
feud,  a  ludicrous  or  tragic  quarrel,  the  pathetic  story 
of  some  blighted  life — any  odd  or  entertaining  page 
from  the  great  book  of  life  that  lies  open  for  all  who 
have  eyes  to  read — will  make  an  acceptable  special 
if  properly  handled.  Half  the  secret  of  getting  into 
print  lies  in  being  first  on  hand  with  a  piece  of  news 
that  the  editor  wants,  and  the  other  half  lies  in  having 
the  ideas  in  plain  English,  arranged  in  the  proper 
journalistic  order. 

The  Sunday  special  is  one  of  the  most  elaborate 
and  difficult  products  of  journalism.  While  it  is  sub- 
jected to  a  less  exacting  literary  standard  than  maga- 

128 


THE   SUNDAY   SUPPLEMENT 

zine  work,  it  has  to  conform  to  definite  requirements 
of  its  own.  Like  the  magazine  article,  it  may  contain 
from  500  to  10,000  words — usually  about  3,000 — and 
must  treat  of  some  topic  of  the  time.  But  the  news- 
paper article  must  be  more  "  up  to  date  "  in  its  mat- 
ter and  lighter  in  its  style.  It  aims  at  sparkle  and 
transient  interest  rather  than  at  dignity  or  extreme 
accuracy.  It  resembles  an  ordinary  news  story  in  that 
the  newest  and  most  striking  statements  should  come 
first.  The  special  writer  has  a  wider  scope  and  more 
liberty  than  the  ordinary  reporter,  however.  He  may 
indulge  in  comments,  so  long  as  they  are  not  of  a 
kind  to  provoke  discussion  or  controvert  the  paper's 
policy.  Bits  of  dialogue  breaking  up  the  monotonous 
solidity  of  the  column,  if  cleverly  done,  will  add  to 
the  salability  of  the  article.  Several  sketches  or  pho- 
tographs for  use  as  illustrations  will  help  wonderfully 
in  gaining  the  favor  of  the  editor.  Photographs  are 
more  acceptable  than  drawings,  as  newspapers  are 
now  illustrated  almost  altogether  with  half-tone  cuts. 
A  writer  who  is  an  expert  with  the  camera  has  a  dis- 
tinct advantage,  for  good  pictures  often  will  sell  a 
story  that  would  go  begging  without  them.  Illustra- 
tions are  becoming  a  more  and  more  popular  feature 
of  the  Sunday  paper. 

Select  subjects  that  you  know  about,  and  that 
everybody  else  does  not  know.  Choose  topics  in 
which  you  are  interested.  Avoid  religious  doctrines 
entirely.  Cultivate  a  cheery  and  generous  rather  than 
a  censorious  spirit.  Remember  that  humor  and  good- 
natured  wit  always  are  the  best  of  material,  and,  as 
elsewhere  in  the  world,  will  win  a  hearing  where  staid 
and  sober  wisdom  is  left  to  wait  without  the  gates. 
The  heavy  magazine  essay  has  little  chance  of  accept- 
ance, however  finished  or  deeply  pondered.  Remem- 

129 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

her  that  readers  like  to  be  interested,  surprised— 
even  shocked  sometimes — but  they  never  like  to  be 
disgusted.  If  you  must  describe  something  revolting, 
make  it  as  mild  as  possible.  Never  forget  that  per- 
sons are  more  important  than  things.  A  new  anec- 
dote about  a  prominent  man  or  woman  is  almost 
always  salable.  The  human  interest  is  universal ;  the 
interest  in  science  or  scenery  is  limited.  Travels 
abroad,  unless  they  be  written  by  a  person  of  wide 
reputation  and  swing  far  from  guide-book  lines,  are 
not  in  demand.  A  story  that  throws  new  light  on  the 
inside  workings  of  the  last  political  convention  will 
be  sought  eagerly,  whereas  new  details  of  the  greatest 
battle  of  the  Revolution  will  have  difficulty  in  finding 
a  place  in  a  newspaper.  This  is  not  because  the  editor 
lacks  patriotism,  but  because  his  readers  are  more 
interested  in  the  present  than  in  the  past.  For  a 
glimpse  of  the  future  they  are  still  more  eager. 
Hence  there  is  a  never-ceasing  rivalry  among  editors 
to  get  any  news  that  may  have  a  bearing  on  an  ap- 
proaching event  of  importance.  For  such  matter  they 
are  willing  to  pay  liberally. 

The  chief  requirement  in  biographical  matter  is 
that  the  subject  of  the  sketch  shall  be  widely  known. 
The  newspaper  reader  knows  a  limited  number  of 
people  by  their  names,  just  as  he  knows  a  limited 
number  of  private  acquaintances  by  their  faces. 
These  familiar  names  are  the  ones  for  the  new  writer 
to  conjure  with,  for  it  is  the  perverse  peculiarity  oi 
journalism  that  it  tends  to  make  the  famed  still  more 
famous,  and  to  leave  ordinary  people  in  their  obscurity. 
Goodness  or  usefulness  have  little  to  do  with  news- 
paper fame  or  notoriety.  The  newspaper  seeks  the 
abnormal  rather  than  the  normal.  The  man  or  woman 
who  says  or  does  things  out  of  the  ordinary  lines  is 

130 


THE   SUNDAY   SUPPLEMENT 

the  one  most  certain  to  figure  in  the  public  prints. 
It  matters  little  to  the  editor  whether  the  unusual  act 
be  sublime  or  damnable.  In  either  case  he  hastens 
to  introduce  the  person  into  the  charmed  circle  of 
newspaper  notoriety,  and  he  is  extremely  loath  to 
confer  this  distinction  upon  anybody  else.  The  result 
is  that  a  candidate  for  the  gallows  is  more  talked 
about  than  a  hundred  people  who  attend  to  their  own 
affairs  and  live  normal  and  exemplary  lives.  This 
magnifying  of  the  abnormal  and  this  exploiting  of 
the  notoriety  hunter  are  not  pleasing  traits  of  the 
modern  journal,  but  they  are  in  accord  with  gossip- 
ing human  nature,  and  must  be  accepted  as  one  finds 
them.  The  point  for  the  would-be  writer  to  remember 
is  that  the  newspaper  public,  like  the  average  individ- 
ual, is  more  interested  in  people  whom  it  knows  than 
in  strangers.  When  one  writes  a  private  letter  to  a 
friend,  one  retails  news  or  gossip  about  common 
acquaintances.  So  it  is  when  the  newspaper  man 
writes  to  his  friends,  the  subscribers;  he  must  talk 
chiefly  about  people  who  are  already  known  or  who 
have  done  something  sufficiently  important  or  startling 
to  entitle  them  to  be  introduced  to  the  reader. 

At  this  point  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  newspaper 
writer — even  the  outside  contributor — must  be  an 
inveterate  reader  of  the  newspapers  in  order  to  be 
successful.  The  reporter  and  editor  must  be  in  close 
and  constant  touch  with  the  people.  They  must  know 
every  shade  and  turn  of  public  opinion  and  must 
shape  or  modulate  their  utterances  accordingly.  To 
drift  away  from  the  thoughts  or  sympathies  of  the 
community  is  fatal  to  any  newspaper.  On  moral 
issues  an  ideal  paper  may  venture  to  be  a  step  in 
advance  of  the  average  reader,  but  not  two  steps. 
The  writer  on  a  newspaper  never  can  afford  to  lose 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

sight  of  the  tastes  or  prejudices  of  those  for  wfiom 
he  is  writing. 

It  is  unjust  to  condemn  this  subserviency  as  moral 
cowardice  or  anything  else  that  theorists  may  choose 
to  call  it.  To  be  in  sympathy  with  one's  audience  is 
quite  necessary,  and  the  more  complete  this  sympathy 
the  more  certain  is  the  utterance  to  be  listened  to  or 
read.  One  of  the  most  potent  secrets  of  journalistic 
success  is  that  of  keeping  always  before  your  mind's 
eye  the  audience  you  are  trying  to  address.  By  so 
doing  you  unconsciously  color  your  writing  in  the 
way  that  will  be  most  pleasing  to  your  readers.  A 
college  boy,  in  describing  a  football  scrimmage, 
assumes  two  entirely  different  tones  when  writing 
of  the  same  thing  to  his  mother  and  to  his  chum.  In 
the  one  case  he  softens  the  brutalities  of  the  game, 
and  in  the  other,  perhaps,  he  accentuates  them.  He 
does  it  almost  unconsciously,  because  he  has  the  per- 
sonality of  the  reader  in  mind  in  each  case.  This 
faculty  of  looking  at  things  from  the  reader's  point 
of  view  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  in  journalism. 
The  news  sense  and  the  editorial  conscience  are 
merely  extensions  of  it. 

Special  stories  almost  always  are  printed  without 
a  signature,  unless  the  writer's  name  already  be 
known  to  the  public.  This  is  true  whether  the  writer 
be  an  outsider  or  a  member  of  the  staff.  Newspapers 
like  to  print  the  names  of  people  whose  reputations 
are  already  made,  but  they  are  slow  to  help  anybody 
to  personal  fame  as  a  writer.  They  print  stories  on 
their  merits,  pay  cash  for  them,  and  prefer  that  the 
credit  for  a  good  article  should  go  to  the  paper  rather 
than  to  the  writer.  Newspaper  work  of  almost  every 
kind  is  anonymous  and  should  not  be  taken  up  by 
writers  bent  on  achieving  personal  fame.  With  a  few 

132 


THE   SUNDAY   SUPPLEMENT 

exceptions  the  members  of  the  newspaper  fraternity 
are  known  all  their  lives  as  "  the  Times  reporter," 
"  the  Herald  editor/'  etc.,  and  even  if  they  rise  to  the 
managing  editorship  of  their  papers  their  names  sel- 
dom or  never  are  seen  in  print.  These  are  the  facts 
which  an  experienced  journalist  had  in  mind  when  he 
gave  this  curt  advice  to  young  reporters :  "  Banish 
from  your  heads  at  once  all  nonsense  about  becoming 
celebrated.  Be  content  with  distinction  in  your  own 
office.  Be  renowned  within  its  walls  for  industry, 
accuracy,  speed,  and  good  copy.  If  you  must  have  a 
wider  celebrity  than  that,  you  would  better  seek  it  in 
some  other  field."  Similar  advice  will  apply  to  the 
writer  of  specials.  Personal  reputation  must  be 
sought  usually  through  the  magazines  or  the  book 
publishers,  and  these  are  still  more  difficult  to  ap- 
proach than  the  newspaper  editor. 

Occasional  correspondence  is  a  kind  of  special 
writing  open  to  any  person  living  in  a  town  or  city 
that  happens  to  have  points  of  interest  to  the  outside 
world.  This  kind  of  matter,  to  be  salable,  must  deal 
with  subjects  not  covered  by  the  telegraphic  news. 
It  is  subject  to  the  same  rules  as  the  ordinary  special, 
except  that  it  has  a  date-line  at  the  top  and  may  deal 
with  a  variety  of  topics.  It  is  the  nearest  approach 
to  the  old-time  news-letter  that  has  survived  the  com- 
ing of  the  telegraph.  A  letter  of  this  kind  from  a  for- 
eign city  to  a  home  paper  sometimes  is  acceptable. 
It  is  advisable  to  accompany  it  with  a  personal  note  to 
the  editor  asking  him  to  use  the  matter,  or  such  part 
of  it  as  suits  his  purpose,  at  his  usual  space  rates. 

Tales  of  fiction  play  a  considerable  part  in  the 
American  newspaper,  especially  in  the  Sunday  sup- 
plement. A  few  papers  print  novels  in  serial  form, 
but  the  favorite  fiction  is  the  short  story,  ranging  in 

133 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

length  from  2,000  to  10,000  words.  As  a  rule  the  wri- 
ting of  these  stories  is  not  profitable  as  a  regular  em- 
ployment. Many  of  the  tales  are  trashy  and  crude, 
and  are  bought  at  cheap  rates  through  syndicates. 
Still  more  of  them  are  lifted  bodily  from  English 
newspapers  or  magazines  that  are  not  copyrighted  in 
the  United  States.  From  sources  of  this  kind  a  paper 
can  secure  a  short  story  every  day  in  the  year  for 
little  or  nothing.  Sometimes  aspiring  young  authors 
are  willing  to  donate  stories  gratis  for  the  sake  of 
having  their  names  appear  in  print.  These  facts  will 
explain  why  fiction  submitted  on  space  is  rejected 
in  such  a  large  majority  of  cases  by  papers  which 
appear  to  be  accepting  much  poorer  work. 

The  fact  remains,  however,  that  the  Sunday  editor 
does  accept  and  pay  for  a  great  many  original  tales 
of  fiction.  In  some  cases  he  depends  entirely  upon 
outside  contributors  for  these  stories,  paying  a  lump 
sum  for  each,  the  price  depending  somewhat  on  the 
length.  As  a  rule,  the  price  approximates  the  usual 
column  rates,  so  that  the  value  of  a  story  of  10,000 
words  in  a  paper  paying  $6  a  column  probably  would 
be  $40  or  $50,  or  about  one-half  what  a  good  magazine 
would  pay  for  a  first-class  story  of  the  same  length. 
It  scarcely  would  pay  a  talented  writer  to  make  a  life- 
work  of  composing  polished  fiction  at  these  rates, 
but  the  Sunday  supplement  is  a  legitimate  and  valu- 
able field  for  authors  who  have  not  yet  gained  their 
spurs;  also  for  stories  by  prominent  writers  in  cases 
where  the  work  happens  to  fall  short  of  the  literary 
standards  of  the  magazines. 

The  writer  of  fiction  will  discover  early  in  his 
career,  however,  that  about  three-fourths  of  the  fiction 
purchased  by  newspapers  is  not  bought  directly  from 
the  authors,  but  is  secured  through  one  of  the  so- 

134 


THE   SUNDAY   SUPPLEMENT 

called  literary  syndicates.  For  the  benefit  of  the  unin- 
itiated, it  may  be  explained  that  a  syndicate  is  a  com- 
bination of  newspapers  that  print  the  same  story  or 
correspondence  simultaneously,  or  it  is  an  agency 
that  undertakes  to  place  the  same  matter  in  several  or 
many  papers  at  the  same  time.  Most  of  these  agen- 
cies are  in  New  York,  which  is  the  literary  distribu- 
ting center  of  the  United  States.  They  solicit  fiction, 
poems,  jokes,  sketches,  and  other  articles  of  a  literary 
nature  from  authors  all  over  the  country,  and  then 
they  make  out  a  catalogue  of  their  wares  and  offer  them 
to  the  newspapers  at  bargain-counter  rates.  As  a 
rule,  the  syndicates  pay  liberally  for  the  stories  they 
accept,  and  they  accept  almost  anything  of  merit,  but 
by  selling  the  same  material  to  a  large  number  of 
papers  they  are  able  to  make  low  rates,  thus  spoiling 
the  market  for  authors  who  try  to  deal  directly  with 
the  editors.  The  young  writer  scarcely  can  do  better, 
however,  than  to  accept  the  situation  as  he  finds  it, 
and  establish  relations  with  one  of  these  agencies 
after  convincing  himself  that  he  has  found  one  which 
is  reliable  and  liberal  in  its  pay  to  authors. 

Poetry  is  in  extremely  slight  demand  among 
American  newspapers.  Many  prosperous  papers 
make  it  a  rule  not  to  buy  poems  of  any  kind,  though 
occasionally  they  make  an  exception  to  the  rule  by 
way  of  novelty.  The  majority  of  them  are  willing  to 
print  good  verse  when  it  is  given  to  them  gratis,  ap- 
pending the  author's  name  to  it.  As  a  means  of 
securing  a  local  reputation  the  writing  of  verse  for 
newspapers  has  some  practical  value,  but  its  paying 
qualities  end  there,  so  far  as  journalism  is  concerned. 
When  a  paper  does  pay  for  a  poem  the  price  usually 
is  absurdly  disproportionate  to  the  time  spent  in  wri- 
ting it. 

135 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

With  jokes  and  humorous  jingles  the  case  is  much 
more  encouraging.  There  is  a  regular  and  steady 
market  for  choice  brands  of  these  staples  at  all  sea- 
sons of  the  year.  Some  papers  employ  humorists  as 
regular  members  of  the  staff  and  buy  little  outside 
matter  of  this  kind.  Others  buy  jokes  in  the  open 
market  at  regular  rates.  The  New  York  World  and 
Herald,  for  instance,  usually  pay  a  dollar  each  for 
jokes,  whether  short  or  long.  A  joke  is  measured  by 
its  point,  not  by  its  size.  Puck  pays  fifty  cents  for 
each  joke,  unless  a  picture  goes  with  it,  in  which  case 
it  pays  two  dollars.  There  are  said  to  be  at  least 
forty  writers  in  New  York  alone  who  make  a  regular 
business  of  writing  jokes  and  comic  verses.  At  the 
end  of  a  day's  work  a  writer  may  have  twenty-five 
jokes  on  as  many  different  slips  of  paper.  As  a  gen- 
eral thing  he  will  put  the  whole  bunch  into  an  en- 
velope, along  with  a  stamped  envelope  addressed  to 
himself,  and  will  send  the  package  first  to  the  paper 
that  pays  the  highest  price.  That  editor  picks  out  the 
jokes  that  suit  his  fancy  and  mails  the  rest  back  to 
the  writer,  who  sends  out  the  survivors  again  and 
again  in  this  way,  until  his  stock  is  exhausted,  or 
until  he  has  come  to  the  papers  that  pay  as  little  as 
fifteen  cents  a  joke.  As  there  are  at  least  twenty-five 
papers  in  New  York  that  pay  for  original  fun,  the 
business  is  said  to  be  quite  profitable  for  accomplished 
and  prolific  joke  builders. 

By  experience  the  editor  of  a  paper  learns  to 
know  almost  instinctively  what  his  readers  desire,  and 
as  failure  to  meet  that  demand  would  mean  ruin  for 
his  paper,  he  is  ever  on  the  alert  for  news  and  literary 
features  that  will  suit  his  purposes.  That  is  why  he 
is  so  patient  in  plowing  through  the  mass  of  raw  ma- 
terial which  every  mail  casts  upon  his  desk.  That 

136 


THE   SUNDAY   SUPPLEMENT 

also  is  why  the  beginner  has  a  hearing — provided  he 
does  not  condemn  himself  on  his  first  page.  One  of 
the  aims  of  the  present  volume  is  to  warn  beginners 
against  blacksmith  work  that  will  cause  the  editor  to 
cast  aside  their  manuscripts  after  the  first  glance.  An 
editor  does  not  read  every  story  that  is  submitted  to 
him.  It  would  be  wasted  time  for  him  to  do  so.  It 
is  enough  if  he  reads  until  he  comes  to  something 
which  shows  that  the  story  is  useless  for  his  purposes. 
He  is  as  anxious  to  find  what  he  needs  as  the  con- 
tributor is  to  have  his  matter  accepted. 

The  trouble  with  novices  is  not  so  much  lack  of 
ideas  as  ignorance  of  the  desired  kind  of  ideas. 
Along  with  this  handicap  goes  another:  they  have 
not  given  sufficient  time  or  labor  to  acquiring  the 
technic  of  the  literary  art,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
subtle  and  difficult  of  all  the  arts.  This  is  a  truth 
which  the  majority  of  young  writers  forget.  It  is 
conceded  by  all  that  a  young  person  who  has  a  talent 
for  painting  must  study  the  art.  It  never  is  denied 
that  a  child  with  a  gift  for  music  must  learn  the  tech- 
nic of  the  instrument  on  which  he  desires  to  play.  It 
is  acknowledged  that  an  actor  must  learn  something 
about  the  business  of  the  stage  before  he  can  hope  to 
go  before  the  public.  But  it  is  fondly  supposed  that 
a  person  who  has  in  his  mind  a  pretty  conceit  for  a 
story  can  sit  down  and  write  it  to  the  satisfaction  of 
newspaper  and  magazine  editors  without  any  previous 
training  whatever.  It  so  happens  that  all  the  men 
and  women  who  have  risen  to  distinction  in  the  field 
of  letters  have  served  a  long  and  laborious  apprentice- 
ship before  they  have  reached  the  ear  of  the  public. 
The  art  of  writing  must  be  studied  diligently,  pain- 
fully, humbly.  The  use  and  abuse  of  words  must  be 
considered,  not  for  a  day,  but  for  many  years.  The 

137 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

thought  and  character  of  the  writer  himself  must  be 
broadened  and  deepened  by  experience  of  life.  The 
formation  of  sentences  must  be  the  thought  of  one's 
waking  hours.  The  acquirement  of  a  pleasing  style 
is  the  work  of  years.  Style  is  the  reflex  of  the  mature 
mind,  the  embodiment  of  thought  which  no  longer 
stumbles,  but  walks  with  sure  feet,  and  makes  for  itself 
a  broad  and  beautiful  path  of  words.  The  beginner 
should  bear  in  mind  the  magnitude  of  the  task  be- 
fore him,  and  cultivate  the  qualities  of  patience  and 
humility. 


138 


IN  THE  ARTISTS'  ROOM 

THE  securing  of  a  position  in  the  art  department 
of  a  newspaper  is  no  easy  task  for  the  beginner.  Al- 
most every  artist  now  holding  a  lucrative  place  has 
vivid  memories  of  a  "  starving  period  "  through  which 
he  had  to  pass  in  making  the  transit  from  the  realm 
of  the  student  to  that  of  the  employee.  A  few  begin 
as  boys  arid  serve  a  long  apprenticeship,  learning  the 
business  gradually  while  acting  as  assistants  in  the 
department,  but  the  majority  must  learn  to  draw  be- 
fore they  come  on  the  paper.  The  head  of  the  depart- 
ment does  not  wish  to  waste  his  time  teaching  pupils ; 
he  wants  men  who  can  do  the  work  at  once.  He  is 
especially  impatient  of  the  young  prodigy  who  comes 
in,  shows  some  crude  sketches,  and  accompanies  his 
application  for  work  with  the  proud  assertion  that  he 
"  never  took  a  lesson  in  his  life."  The  head  artist  is 
likely  to  advise  such  applicants  rather  abruptly  to  go 
and  spend  a  few  years  in  an  art  school  before  they 
come  seeking  pay  for  their  services.  The  oldest  artist 
on  the  staff  feels  that  he  still  has  many  lessons  to 
learn,  and  he  is  not  likely  to  look  kindly  upon  the 
young  recruit  who  thinks  he  "  knows  it  all "  by  in- 
stinct. "  Natural-born  artists  "  are  as  rare  as  white 
crows,  and  there  is  not  one  who  will  not  be  greatly 
improved  by  hard  study  under  competent  instructors. 
It  is  a  current  saying  among  men  of  this  craft  that  the 

139 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

average  artist  is  "  one-fifth  born  and  four-fifths  made 
by  hard  work."  Without  the  original  endowment  no 
amount  of  work  will  make  a  good  artist,  but  without 
wise  and  careful  training  even  the  initial  endowment 
will  not  carry  a  man  very  far.  There  are  scores  of 
artists  who  have  reached  the  limit  of  their  powers 
and  still  are  in  obscure  positions  because  they  made 
the  mistake  of  starting  without  a  thorough  training 
in  the  elements  of  drawing.  By  all  means,  get  all  the 
schooling  you  can ;  it  will  be  hard  enough  at  best  to 
get  a  situation,  but  if  you  have  not  learned  to  see 
accurately  and  to  draw  correctly  the  quest  will  be 
hopeless.  On  the  other  hand,  the  student  who  can 
draw  well  with  the  pencil  can  soon  be  "  broken  in  " 
to  use  the  various  other  media  and  methods  necessary 
in  a  newspaper  office. 

The  gap  between  the  art  school  and  the  news- 
paper art  room,  however,  is  so  wide  that  it  is  usually 
necessary  to  find  some  intervening  work  that  will 
bridge  over  the  hungry  chasm.  The  experience  of  no 
two  artists  is  alike  during  this  period,  but  for  nearly 
all  it  is  a  time  of  precarious  livelihood.  The  usual 
course  is  to  seek  stray  jobs  of  illustration  among  the 
printing  houses  and  elsewhere,  perhaps  earning  five 
dollars  one  week,  fifty  the  next,  and  nothing  the  next. 
A  veteran  head  of  a  newspaper  art  department,  who 
has  employed  scores  of  artists  and  turned  away  hun- 
dreds of  incompetent  applicants,  suggests  that  the 
wisest  plan  for  the  beginner  at  this  stage  is  to  seek 
employment  with  an  advertising  agency  as  a  solicitor 
of  ads,  and  to  use  his  sketching  abilities  as  an  aid  in 
this  work.  Many  an  advertiser  can  be  won  over  by 
the  sight  of  a  clever  drawing  embodying  some  idea  he 
has  suggested  or  some  scheme  proposed  by  the 
solicitor.  This  kind  of  work  is  excellent  training  for 

140 


IN   THE   ARTISTS'    ROOM 

newspaper  illustrating,  and  when  a  foothold  has  been 
obtained  in  a  business  house  it  is  comparatively  easy 
to  take  the  remaining  step  and  secure  a  good  berth 
on  the  art  staff  of  some  enterprising  newspaper. 
Another  good  plan  is  to  get  up  special  articles  to 
sell  to  Sunday  papers,  with  good  pictures  that  have 
a  news  interest.  If  you  do  not  feel  able  to  write  the 
story,  go  into  partnership  with  an  experienced  news- 
paper man  and  let  him  do  the  writing  while  you  do 
the  illustrating.  Illustrated  articles  of  the  right  kind 
are  in  constant  demand  for  the  Sunday  paper,  and  the 
editor  is  always  glad  to  buy  such  stories  if  they  be 
timely  or  interesting.  The  pictures  are  not  so  likely 
to  be  salable  without  the  reading  matter,  nor  is  the 
story  so  likely  to  sell  without  the  pictures.  The  artist 
who  can  both  draw  and  write  will  not  languish  for 
work — provided  he  also  has  the  news  instinct. 

The  ability  to  see  the  news  aspect  of  things  is 
as  important  for  an  artist  as  for  a  reporter.  You  must 
know  what  to  leave  out  as  well  as  what  to  put  in. 
One  man  may  be  able  to  make  a  beautiful  drawing 
and  yet  be  useless  in  the  newspaper  art  room,  while 
another  may  sketch  the  same  thing  in  a  few  lines  and 
be  just  the  man  for  the  place.  The  secret  of  success 
is  to  see  the  striking  or  piquant  aspect  of  a  thing  and 
be  able  to  draw  it  simply,  swiftly,  and  in  correct  pro- 
portion. Accurate  line-drawing  is  the  foundation  of 
the  whole  art. 

It  is  well  for  the  student  to  keep  in  mind  con- 
stantly the  fact  that  he  means  to  be  a  newspaper  artist. 
To  this  end  he  should  clip  out  and  copy  or  study  the 
very  best  newspaper  pictures  he  can  find — the  strong- 
est and  simplest,  for  simplicity  is  the  main  thing — 
and  try  to  realize  how  they  are  made.  Let  him  not 
suppose,  however,  that  because  he  can  make  a  good 
ii  141 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

copy  of  such  a  cut  he  is  necessarily  ready  to  take  a 
position.  It  is  easy  enough  to  copy  a  simple  picture, 
but  it  is  quite  a  different  matter  to  create  one  out  of 
your  own  mind  or  out  of  a  complex  original.  Keep 
newspaper  illustrations  constantly  before  you,  and 
work  like  a  tiger  to  become  proficient  in  line-drawing. 
The  man  who  follows  this  course  can  soon  adapt 
himself  to  any  newspaper  after  he  once  secures  a 
position.  Whether  he  is  to  devote  himself  to  line- 
drawings,  wash-drawings,  cartoons,  color  work,  or  all 
by  turns,  must  depend  upon  his  own  aptitudes  and 
the  orders  of  his  chief.  When  a  man  has  once  adapted 
himself  to  such  a  position,  he  is  comparatively  secure 
in  his  place  so  long  as  he  does  conscientious  work. 
The  opportunities  for  serious  errors  and  discharge 
are  much  fewer  with  the  artist  than  with  the  reporter 
or  editor. 

In  spite  of  the  change  which,  in  the  last  few  years, 
has  substituted  the  half-tone  reproduction  of  photo- 
graphs so  largely  for  line-drawings,  there  is  more 
and  more  work  every  day  for  the  newspaper  artist. 
Good  positions  are  more  numerous  than  competent 
men.  There  is  not  a  fairly  good  artist  in  the  country 
who  is  not  receiving  a  liberal  salary ;  too  often  a  paper 
has  to  be  content  with  men  of  poor  training  or  medi- 
ocre ability  because  it  can  not  find  enough  first-class 
ones  to  do  its  work.  Artists  of  marked  talents  are 
much  scarcer  than  first-class  reporters  or  editors.  Out 
of  seven  hundred  students  in  a  given  art  institute  not 
more  than  three  or  four  artists  will  ever  be  heard  of 
afterward.  A  majority  of  these  pupils,  of  course,  are 
women,  who  are  not  studying  to  become  professional 
artists ;  but  the  proportion  of  successes  among  the 
young  men  alone  is  small  enough.  You  can  count 
the  great  newspaper  artists  of  the  country  on  your 

142 


IN   THE   ARTISTS'    ROOM 

fingers.  It  is  worth  while  to  work  hard  to  reach  the 
top,  for  the  company  is  select  and  the  reward 
lucrative. 

The  beginner,  even  when  he  has  learned  to  draw 
well  enough  to  apply  for  a  position,  must  expect  to 
start  with  a  salary  of  $10  or  $12  a  week.  If  he 
learns  rapidly  and  makes  himself  valuable  to  the 
paper,  his  pay  will  probably  be  increased  much  more 
rapidly  than  it  would  be  in  a  bank  or  store.  The 
point  where  he  will  cease  commanding  a  further  raise 
will  depend  almost  solely  upon  the  extent  of  his  pow- 
ers. Salaries  run  up  to  $75  or  $100  a  week  on  the 
larger  papers,  and  sometimes  reach  $200  a  week  in 
exceptional  cases.  The  average  pay  of  newspaper 
artists,  however,  taking  them  as  a  class,  is  something 
between  $35  and  $50  a  week.  The  average  is  con- 
siderably higher  than  that  of  reporters.  Besides,  there 
are  many  opportunities  for  making  money  on  the  out- 
side, by  private  commissions  of  all  kinds  that  naturally 
fall  in  the  way  of  the  newspaper  artist.  His  advance- 
ment in  the  office  will  depend  upon  his  interest  in  his 
work  and  his  loyalty  to  his  paper,  as  well  as  upon  his 
ability  to  draw  good  pictures.  The  best  of  artists,  if 
he  be  lazy  and  inert,  never  suggesting  new  features 
or  showing  creative  originality,  can  not  rise  very  high. 
To  become  the  head  of  the  department  requires  ex- 
ecutive ability  as  well  as  great  resourcefulness  and 
willingness  to  assume  responsibility. 

The  highest  rewards,  both  in  money  and  in  fame, 
are  reserved  for  the  successful  cartoonist.  The  men 
who  can  draw  good  cartoons  are  very  few,  and  the 
best  ones  can  command  the  largest  salaries  in  the 
business.  The  great  cartoonist  is  born,  not  made. 
The  work  requires  a  rare  combination  of  qualities 
over  and  above  that  of  being  able  to  draw  well.  It 

143 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

demands  creative  power,  a  keen  sense  of  humor,  a 
broad  knowledge  and  outlook,  the  ability  to  penetrate 
to  the  heart  of  a  question  or  situation,  and  the  faculty 
of  stating  the  point  pictorially  as  well  as  verbally. 
The  picture  must  be  created  in  the  artist's  brain  with- 
out models  or  originals.  It  must  be  dramatic  in  its 
grouping  and  humorous  or  epigrammatic  in  its  effect, 
and  if  it  miss  fire  by  a  hairbreadth  it  is  a  failure. 
Nobody  can  be  taught  to  be  a  cartoonist  if  the  faculty 
be  not  born  in  him.  It  is  impossible  even  for  one 
cartoonist  to  succeed  by  copying  the  style  of  another. 
Each  has  his  own  style,  as  marked  as  his  own  indi- 
viduality, and  each  must  work  out  his  own  methods. 
Professional  cartoonists  often  receive  suggestions 
from  editors  and  others,  and  sometimes  they  can  em- 
body these  in  effective  pictures,  but  the  most  suc- 
cessful cartoon  is  the  one  that  is  worked  out  by  the 
cartoonist  himself  through  reading  the  paper  and 
keeping  in  touch  with  its  policy  and  with  the  trend  of 
events.  When  some  great  and  absorbing  problem  of 
the  hour  is  suddenly  crystallized  as  by  inspiration  in 
a  single  cartoon  it  is  usually  done  in  this  way. 

From  what  has  been  said,  it  will  be  clear  that  the 
beginner  is  not  likely  to  enter  the  realm  of  newspaper 
art  by  means  of  cartoons.  Such  things  have  hap- 
pened, of  course,  but  the  instances  are  so  rare  that 
they  may  safely  be  ignored.  The  best  way  is  to  work 
into  the  business  by  the  more  modest  channels  already 
suggested,  and  then  if  you  have  any  genius  as  a  car- 
toonist there  will  be  opportunities  to  display  it.  The 
faculty  of  seeing  the  "  news  "  aspect  of  things  is  ab- 
solutely essential,  and  this  can  scarcely  be  cultivated 
outside  of  a  newspaper  art  room. 

Eight  hours  constitute  the  usual  working  day  of 
the  newspaper  artist,  but  every  man  is  expected  to 

144 


IN   THE   ARTISTS'    ROOM 

hold  himself  in  readiness  to  work  all  day  and  all 
night  in  an  emergency,  if  circumstances  demand  it. 
Employees  in  all  departments  of  a  newspaper  must 
work  until  the  day's  task  is  done.  The  matter  of 
hours  depends  pretty  much  upon  the  head  of  the 
establishment  and  upon  the  head  of  the  department. 
As  a  rule,  on  the  large  city  papers,  some  of  the  artists 
come  on  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  get 
away  about  six  in  the  evening,  while  those  of  another 
shift  come  on  at  two  in  the  afternoon  and  work  until 
ten  or  eleven. 

The  men  who  attend  to  the  mechanical  work  of 
making  cuts  out  of  the  artists'  drawings  are  a  guild  of 
themselves,  and  it  is  not  necessary  that  the  artist- 
beginner  should  know  anything  about  the  processes 
used  in  making  the  various  kinds  of  engravings.  The 
etching  department  employs  photographers,  etchers, 
routers,  finishers,  etc.  Each  man  does  a  certain  kind 
of  work  and  nothing  else.  The  salaries  run  from  $21 
to  $25,  with  $35  as  the  average  pay  for  the  head  of 
the  department.  The  process  of  etching  pictures  on 
zinc  by  means  of  photography  and  acid  has  revolu- 
tionized the  whole  domain  of  newspaper  and  maga- 
zine illustration.  It  is  so  much  cheaper  than  the  old 
method  of  engraving  on  wood  by  hand  that  it  has 
entirely  superseded  the  latter.  Until  quite  recently 
nearly  all  newspaper  pictures  were  line-drawings  made 
by  hand  and  etched  on  zinc.  Now  the  line-drawings 
have  almost  disappeared,  giving  place  to  half-tone 
reproductions  of  photographs  or  of  wash-drawings. 
The  best  half-tone  illustrations  are  made  from  photo- 
graphs rather  than  from  drawings  of  any  kind  done 
by  hand.  There  is  a  brisk  demand  for  good  photog- 
raphers with  a  nose  for  news  and  a  genius  for  getting 
good  pictures  of  the  right  kind.  The  camera  expert 

145 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

must  be  a  man  intelligent  in  other  ways — "  one  that 
you  can  tell  things  to."  For  a  photographer  of  this 
kind  there  is  a  bright  outlook  in  the  newspaper  field. 

In  spite  of  the  great  increase  of  photographic 
work  in  newspaper  illustration,  there  is  more  work 
than  ever  for  artists,  because  the  use  of  pictures  of  all 
kinds  has  increased  enormously,  and  even  the  proper 
retouching  of  photographs  for  reproduction  requires 
a  skilled  hand.  The  preparation  of  the  Sunday  paper 
alone  calls  for  a  large  corps  of  artists  to  make  the 
imposing  array  of  illustrations  now  considered  neces- 
sary in  that  edition.  The  field  is  broad  enough  to 
give  scope  for  all  kinds  of  artistic  originality  as  well 
as  to  afford  employment  to  the  more  modest  kinds 
of  artistic  ability.  The  profession  is  one  of  the  few 
that  are  not  yet  overcrowded.  Genuine  success  can 
not  be  obtained  in  it  without  decided  native  ability 
and  thorough  training  under  good  instructors,  but 
with  this  kind  of  equipment  a  young  man  has  the 
means  of  a  good  and  dependable  livelihood  at  his 
command.  If  I  had  a  friend  who  could  draw  and 
write  equally  well,  I  should  advise  him  to  choose  the 
career  of  a  newspaper  artist  rather  than  that  of  a  re- 
porter or  editor,  because  the  competition  is  less  and 
the  pay  is  likely  to  be  more. 


146 


XI 

WOMEN  IN  NEWSPAPER  WORK 

AMERICAN  journalism  offers  good  positions  to  a 
limited  number  of  women  of  special  ability  in  certain 
lines,  but  on  the  whole  it  is  rather  grudging  of  its 
favors  to  the  gentler  sex.  A  few  years  ago  women 
had  a  brief  period  of  flourishing  in  newspaper  work, 
when  it  was  the  fad  to  have  them  write  of  impor- 
tant events  from  a  feminine  point  of  view.  Feminine 
reporters  were  sent  to  describe  the  Presidential  nomi- 
nating conventions,  the  Derby  races,  or  the  opening 
exercises  of  the  World's  Fair  just  as  these  things 
looked  to  them.  Their  articles  were  expected  to  be 
nothing  more  than  bright  gossip,  full  of  the  funny  or 
pathetic  or  sentimental  things  that  women  see  and 
men  do  not.  So  long  as  this  fashion  lasted  in  jour- 
nalism it  afforded  good  opportunities  to  a  few  clever 
women,  for  they  were  paid  by  the  same  column  rates 
as  masculine  special  writers.  They  could  do  their 
best  work,  because  they  could  put  their  own  personal- 
ity into  it.  But  this  was  only  one  of  the  innumerable 
and  fleeting  fads  of  journalism.  When  the  novelty 
wore  off,  the  feature  was  dropped,  and  most  of  the 
feminine  reporters  went  with  it. 

At  present  there  are  less  than  three  hundred  regu- 
larly employed  newspaper  women  in  the  United 
States.  These  are  women  who  have  learned  to  know 
news  when  they  hear  it,  and  who  can  present  it  to 
the  public  in  the  most  attractive  form.  They  stand  on 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

exactly  the  same  basis  as  the  men,  and  the)  hold  theli 
positions  simply  because  they  can  do  their  work  fully 
as  well  as  men  could  do  it.  There  is  no  longer  a 
gentle  sex  in  journalism. 

There  are  perhaps  five  women  writers  on  the 
average  city  daily.  On  the  more  conservative  papers 
there  are  only  two  or  three,  reserved  for  such  dainty 
uses  as  the  reporting  of  women's  club  meetings  and 
the  writing  of  fashion  and  complexion  advices.  On 
the  more  sensational  papers  there  are  eight  or  ten 
women,  scouring  the  town  breathlessly  to  interview 
bankers  and  murderers,  to  report  teas  or  trials,  to  see 
the  latest  strike  leader  or  to  ask  the  newest  divorcee 
questions  which  she  will  decline  to  answer.  They 
have  charge  of  the  woman's  page,  and  perhaps  of  a 
section  of  the  Sunday  supplement.  They  are  society 
editors,  subject  to  the  snubs  of  the  vulgar  rich  and 
the  importunities  of  people  with  a  morbid  craving  to 
see  their  names  in  print.  They  expect  no  favors  or 
leniency  because  they  are  women,  and  they  work 
just  as  hard  and  do  just  as  good  work  as  men,  yet 
the  fact  remains  that  there  is  no  strong  demand  for 
more  of  them.  The  newspaper  is  distinctively  a  mas- 
culine institution,  offering  women,  with  a  few  excep- 
tions, only  the  frills  and  fringes  of  journalistic  work. 

The  woman  who  is  a  specialist  on  some  subject 
has  the  best  chance,  yet  even  she  is  at  a  disadvantage 
because  of  the  perpetual  change  of  fads  in  the  news- 
paper office.  The  specialist  on  birds  or  botany  may 
be  in  eager  demand  for  a  season,  but  the  next  year  the 
reigning  fad  may  be  something  else,  and  then  the 
natural  history  expert  is  dropped  out.  The  only  real 
staples  of  journalism  are  news,  politics,  and  business. 
In  none  of  these  can  women  compete  on  even  terms 
with  men.  The  work  of  news-gathering,  as  a  rule, 

148 


WOMEN   IN   NEWSPAPER   WORK 

is  too  rude  and  exacting  for  them.  The  Associated 
Press  has  no  successful  women  in  its  army  of  news- 
agents. Local  reporting  work  deals  too  exclusively 
with  men  and  with  the  affairs  of  men  to  give  women 
a  fair  chance  in  it.  The  opportunities  for  women  to 
become  experts  in  politics  or  in  technical  business 
lines  are  extremely  meager.  Their  lack  of  such 
knowledge  inevitably  bars  them  out  of  places  as  copy 
readers,  to  say  nothing  of  the  executive  positions.  It 
is  true  that  Kate  Field  in  New  York,  and  Margaret 
Sullivan  in  Chicago,  have  demonstrated  that  a  woman 
can  write  as  pungent  and  forceful  editorials  as  men, 
but  these  are  the  exceptions  that  prove  the  rule. 

Acrobatic  journalism,  otherwise  known  as  yellow 
journalism,  employs  more  women  and  gives  them 
better  pay  than  the  conservative  newspapers,  but  it 
is  a  hard  and  unpleasant  taskmaster.  A  young  woman 
may  earn  from  $50  to  $100  a  week  for  a  while  on 
one  of  the  large  sensational  journals  in  New  York, 
but  she  can  do  so  only  by  going  to  all  sorts  of  risky 
places  and  by  doing  things  for  which  she  often  will 
feel  inclined  to  despise  herself.  One  who  has  tried  it 
says :  "  The  woman  reporter  often  takes  her  life  in  one 
hand  and  her  honor  in  the  other  when  she  goes  off  in 
pursuit  of  copy  for  the  yellow  journal."  Judging 
from  some  of  their  assignments,  this  is  not  an  over- 
statement of  the  case.  One  woman  secures  a  story 
by  having  herself  hoisted  by  a  rope  from  the  street 
to  the  top  of  the  highest  skyscraper  building  and 
then  describing  her  sensations  in  print  with  illustra- 
tions. Another  earns  her  money  by  making  a  balloon 
ascension.  A  third  is  sent  to  see  a  man  hanged  and 
describes  "  A  Hanging  as  it  Looks  to  a  Woman."  A 
fourth  is  commanded  to  walk  up  and  down  a  certain 
street  after  night  and  see  whether  she  is  molested. 

149 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

This  glimpse  of  the  work  is  enough  to  convince  almost 
anybody  that  the  money  is  dearly  earned.  It  is  said 
that  four  years  of  this  kind  of  newspaper  work  in 
New  York  mean  nervous  prostration  for  the  average 
woman. 

Women  on  the  more  conservative  papers  in  New 
York  earn  from  $20  to  $35  a  week.  Some  of  them 
are  special  writers,  producing  articles  for  the  Sunday 
supplement.  A  few  are  regular  reporters,  who  "  take 
their  chances  with  the  men."  They  may  be  sent  to 
interview  a  wife-beater  or  to  pry  into  the  private 
affairs  of  neighbors.  A  talk  with  a  shoplifter  and 
a  snub  from  a  servant  are  incidents  of  the  day's  work. 
The  woman  reporter  may  be  sent  to  an  up-town 
broker  to  ask  whether  he  runs  a  bucket-shop  for 
women,  or  whether  it  be  a  fact  that  his  daughter  has 
eloped  with  a  coachman,  and  to  request  him  kindly  to 
furnish  a  photograph  to  go  with  his  denial. 

If  she  is  sent  to  write  up  a  coal-miners'  strike  she 
must  see  the  kind  of  things  her  paper  wants  to  print. 
If  it  is  a  capitalistic  paper,  she  will  be  expected  to  see 
well-fed  wives  and  children  in  snug  cottages,  and  if 
there  is  any  misery  it  must  be  ascribed  to  drink.  If 
she  belongs  to  a  rampant  "  people's  "  paper,  she  will 
find  a  starving  family  in  every  block.  Unless  she 
produces  the  right  kind  of  copy  it  will  not  be  printed. 
She  must  not  falsify,  but  she  must  see  only  one  set  of 
facts.  Rarely  can  she  express  the  whole  truth  or 
her  own  opinion.  It  is  true  that  clearness  of  vision 
and  intensity  of  purpose  may  be  lost  after  a  time  in 
this  kind  of  school,  but  that  is  a  danger  which  besets 
the  reporter  of  either  sex.  Reportorial  work  rubs 
the  bloom  off  a  woman  much  more  quickly  than 
school-teaching  or  employment  in  a  business  office. 
The  paper  takes  all  her  time,  all  her  strength,  and 


WOMEN    IN    NEWSPAPER   WORK 

robs  her  of  almost  all  social  life  and  of  many  feminine 
characteristics. 

Edward  W.  Bok  once  wrote  to  fifty  successful 
newspaper  women,  and  also  to  fifty  leading  male 
editors,  asking  a  candid  opinion  as  to  whether  they 
would  wish  daughters  of  theirs  to  enter  newspaper 
work.  Forty-two  women  replied — three  in  the  affirm- 
ative and  thirty-nine  in  the  negative.  Thirty  men  an- 
swered— all  in  the  negative.  The  almost  unanimous 
testimony  was  that  a  girl  can  not  live  in  the  free-and- 
easy  atmosphere  of  the  local  room  or  do  the  work 
required  of  a  reporter  without  undergoing  a  decline 
in  the  innate  qualities  of  womanliness  or  suffering  in 
health.  One  editor  gave  these  interesting  statistics : 

"  I  am  recalling  eighteen  really  capable  girls  that 
I  have  employed  during  the  last  two  years.  Four  got 
married  and  were  glad  to  leave  the  work;  six  broke 
down  in  health  and  were  not  allowed  to  return  to 
the  work ;  two  are  now  in  a  sanatorium ;  two  got  to  be 
so  '  swagger '  that  they  could  not  fitly  represent  a 
paper  of  our  standing,  and  the  four  others  are  with 
us  now.  There  is  a  story  of  fourteen  out  of  eighteen 
— all  nice,  capable  girls." 

One  experienced  newspaper  woman  has  figured 
out  that  she  works  ten  hours  a  day,  six  days  in  the 
week,  and  fifty  weeks  in  the  year.  This  makes 
three  thousand  hours  a  year,  which  at  $30  a  week 
is  50  cents  an  hour.  A  school-teacher  employed  from 
nine  to  two  o'clock,  five  days  in  the  week,  and  thirty- 
six  weeks  in  the  year,  works^nine  hundred  hours.  If 
she  gets  $1,000  she  spends  her  time  twice  as  profitably 
as  the  journalist  who  gets  $1,500.  Yet  these  facts 
will  not  and  should  not  deter  a  woman  from  entering 
journalism  if  she  prefers  it  and  is  better  fitted  for  it 
than  for  school-teaching  or  anything  else.  Only  those 

" 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

who  have  a  "  divine  call "  for  any  profession,  in  this 
practical  sense,  should  take  it  up. 

There  are  women  who  are  fitted  by  nature  for 
journalism  just  as  there  are  men  of  the  same  kind. 
Jennie  June's  (Mrs.  Croly's)  career  of  forty-five  years 
in  newspaper  work  is  an  inspiring  example.  The  ex- 
periences of  Marian  Harland  and  Ella  Wheeler  Wil- 
cox  are  good  proof  of  what  a  woman  can  achieve  in 
this  line  by  following  the  bent  of  her  own  genius. 
Though  these  women  made  their  reputations  by  wri- 
ting of  fashions,  cooking,  and  affairs  of  the  heart,  they 
did  it  so  well  that  they  secured  opportunities  for  deal- 
ing with  less  distinctively  feminine  subjects.  Even 
Nellie  Ely's  more  sensational  fame,  secured  by  such 
feats  as  going  to  the  bottom  of  New  York  harbor 
in  a  diver's  suit  and  circling  the  globe  alone  in  sev- 
enty-odd days,  is  more  to  be  desired  than  a  reputation 
for  empty  social  frivolity  or  for  morbid  introspection. 
Of  a  different  and  more  inspiring  nature  is  the  repu- 
tation won  by  Elizabeth  G.  Jordan,  editor  of  Har- 
per's Bazar,  who  was  for  many  years  on  the  staff  of 
the  New  York  World;  or  that  of  Mrs.  Emily  Craw- 
ford, the  Paris  correspondent  of  the  London  Daily 
News,  whose  intellectual  grasp  and  brilliancy  of  de- 
scriptive power  made  her  for  years  a  worthy  rival  of 
the  unique  De  Blowitz. 

Other  names  of  successful  newspaper  women 
might  be  cited  in  every  city  of  importance,  but  enough 
has  been  said  to  show  that  the  profession  offers  de- 
sirable positions  to  women  specially  fitted  for  the 
work.  Enough  also  has  been  said,  however,  to  show 
that  no  woman  can  succeed  in  regular  newspaper 
work  unless  she  love  the  pen  better  than  anything 
else  and  be  willing  to  devote  all  her  time,  energy,  and 
ability  to  it.  Whether  the  sacrifice  in  doing  so  will 


WOMEN    IN    NEWSPAPER   WORK 

not  be  greater  than  the  gain  is  a  question  which 
every  woman  of  journalistic  ambitions  must  decide 
for  herself. 

The  woman  who  secures  a  place  on  a  newspaper 
staff  must  accept  conditions  and  men  as  she  finds 
them.  The  nearer  she  can  come  to  being  "  one  of  the 
boys  "  without  laying  aside  any  of  her  womanliness, 
the  greater  will  be  her  chance  of  success.  She  will 
make  a  fatal  mistake  if  she  stands  on  her  dignity  and 
expects  the  whole  force  to  remember  that  there  is 
"  a  lady  in  the  room."  Her  surroundings  will  not 
always  be  agreeable,  yet  in  all  essentials  she  will  be 
treated  with  the  respect  to  which  her  character  may 
entitle  her. 

How  shall  a  woman  go  about  getting  a  place  on 
a  newspaper?  The  best  short  answer  is  this:  Write 
something  that  the  editor  wants,  and  get  it  into  his 
hands  before  anybody  else  has  covered  the  subject. 
Keep  on  doing  this,  making  what  money  you  can  on 
"  space,"  until  you  have  convinced  the  editor  of  your 
superior  ability  to  do  certain  kinds  of  work.  Then 
when  the  opening  comes  you  will  have  a  fair  chance 
to  fill  it.  This  is  the  broad  but  thorny  road  of  the 
"  special  article."  It  is  a  road  that  anybody  can  try 
without  leaving  home  and  without  risking  any  great 
stake  in  case  of  failure.  Probably  as  many  women 
have  made  places  for  themselves  in  metropolitan 
journalism  by  this  method  as  by  any  other. 

For  the  woman  who  is  determined  to  get  a  place 
on  a  city  paper  there  is  only  one  means  that  surpasses 
the  "  special,"  and  that  is  to  secure  a  place  on  a  local 
paper  in  a  smaller  town  and  work  thence  into  a  larger 
field.  Usually  it  is  comparatively  easy,  by  making 
one's  self  useful  free  of  charge,  to  get  a  permanent 
place  on  a  village  or  town  paper,  with  at  least  a  little 

153 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

pay  for  one's  services.  A  little  faithful  work  in  gath- 
ering personal  items,  news  notes,  and  anecdotes,  and 
handing  them  to  the  editor  in  good  season  each  week, 
ultimately  will  secure  one  a  place  as  a  regular  re- 
porter, and  from  there  one  may  be  able  to  work  into 
a  position  as  book-reviewer  or  subeditor  in  some  other 
line.  Then  one's  income  may  be  eked  out  by  wri- 
ting specials  and  mailing  them  to  large  city  papers, 
thus  attacking  the  enemy  from  two  directions. 

All  the  large  metropolitan  dailies  must  have  local 
correspondents  in  the  various  towns,  and,  as  explained 
more  fully  elsewhere,  they  almost  invariably  write  to 
a  local  paper  and  ask  the  editor  to  recommend  some 
one.  This  work  of  news-gathering  is  not  so  well 
adapted  to  women  as  to  men,  because  it  requires  the 
reporter  to  rush  off  to  all  kinds  of  places  at  all  hours 
of  the  day  or  night ;  but  many  women  are  acting  as 
local  correspondents  quite  satisfactorily  in  places  where 
the  news  is  gathered  by  the  local  paper  and  needs  only 
to  be  condensed  from  the  proofs.  This  materially 
lightens  the  labor  of  such  a  position.  When  a  woman 
thus  becomes  local  correspondent  for  a  large  city 
daily  she  has  a  chance  to  distinguish  herself  by  good 
work  and  in  time  to  secure  a  position  of  some  kind 
on  the  staff  of  the  paper  in  question. 

Besides  the  two  main  traveled  roads  that  have 
been  mentioned  there  are  almost  as  many  other  ave- 
nues of  entrance  as  there  are  positions  on  a  news- 
paper. I  know  a  young  woman  in  Chicago  who 
never  had  written  a  line  for  pay  until  she  found  her- 
self suddenly  invited  to  become  a  writer  of  editorials 
for  one  of  the  leading  and  most  punctilious  dailies  in 
the  city.  The  editor  had  been  attracted  by  the  pecul- 
iar felicity  of  ideas  and  phrasing  shown  in  a  brief 
communication  contributed  by  her  to  the  People's 

154 


WOMEN    IN    NEWSPAPER   WORK 

Column.  Another  woman  worked  her  way  into  a 
position  on  the  same  paper  by  serving  several  years 
as  the  editor's  shorthand  amanuensis.  A  few  women 
have  secured  places  as  book-reviewers  without  any 
previous  journalistic  training,  though  usually  they  are 
women  with  a  thorough  literary  education.  Not  infre- 
quently there  are  openings  where  the  regular  literary 
editor  needs  the  help  of  persons  who  are  willing  to 
review  books  with  no  other  pay  than  the  books 
reviewed.  Faithful  work  in  such  a  place  may  lead 
in  time  to  a  position  on  the  staff. 

A  woman  with  genuine  literary  talents  really  has  a 
better  chance  as  a  beginner  if  she  devotes  herself  to 
writing  verses,  stories,  and  humorous  or  pathetic 
sketches  for  the  magazines  and  Sunday  papers  than  if 
she  attempts  to  get  a  place  in  straight  news-gather- 
ing. Such  work  requires  more  talent  than  reporting, 
but  it  is  work  in  which  a  woman  has  exactly  an  even 
chance  with  men.  The  average  woman  is  better  fitted 
for  writing  fiction  than  fact.  She  has  a  better  chance 
where  success  depends  upon  artistic  taste  and  a  play 
of  fancy  than  where  it  depends  on  physical  exertion 
and  on  knowledge  that  can  be  gained  only  by  "  leg 
power."  As  novelists  women  are  now  commanding 
as  large  a  share  of  success  as  men.  Feminine  writers 
also  are  specially  fitted  to  weave  entertaining  tales 
for  children.  The  juvenile  departments  maintained  in 
some  papers  are  ideal  fields  for  the  cultivation  of  fem- 
inine talents. 

Miss  Ida  M.  Tarbell,  associate  editor  of  McClure's 
Magazine,  denies  that  reporting  has  any  great  value 
in  fitting  a  woman  for  editorial  work.  She  believes 
that  the  sensational  writing  usually  required  of  news- 
paper women  nowadays  damages  their  literary  style, 
while  contact  with  the  seamy  side  of  life  destroys 

155 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

their  faith  in  humanity  and  robs  them  of  tender- 
ness and  depth  of  feeling.  "  The  very  best  prepara- 
tion," she  says,  "  has  always  seemed  to  me  to  be  free- 
lance work  for  magazines  and  weekly  periodicals. 
The  independent  writer  who  studies  the  needs  of 
many  editors  and  markets  her  literary  offerings  in 
various  publications  is  the  one  who  develops  the  edi- 
torial instinct  in  herself." 

The  point  I  wish  to  make  is  that  the  borderland 
of  literature  is  less  hostile  to  women  than  the  fron- 
tiers of  journalism.  There  is  no  macadamized  road 
to  success  in  either  region,  but  the  literary  way  is 
beset  with  fewer  rocks  and  precipices  for  the  feminine 
traveler.  Moreover,  success  as  a  writer  of  stories, 
sketches,  or  poems  means  comparatively  easy  access 
to  journalism  afterward  if  desired.  Mary  Mapes 
Dodge,  Marian  Harland,  Elia  W.  Peattie,  Mrs.  Rayne, 
and  a  score  of  others  might  be  named  as  examples  of 
success  along  this  road.  Probably  more  women  have 
entered  journalism  through  literature  than  have  en- 
tered literature  through  journalism.  They  have  to 
work  for  years  to  make  names  for  themselves,  even 
after  their  matter  begins  to  be  accepted,  but  they  are 
not  subjected  to  the  unsexing  process  through  which 
the  woman  reporter  must  go,  and  if  they  succeed  they 
have  the  credit  for  it  over  their  own  names,  while 
the  newspaper  reporter  of  either  sex  remains  anony- 
mous to  the  last. 

The  method  of  approach  indicated  in  the  foregoing 
paragraphs  is  the  one  that  I  should  recommend  to  all 
feminine  writers.  It  is  the  one  most  likely  to  open 
up  a  way  to  the  particular  field  for  which  the  candi- 
date may  be  best  suited,  while  if  she  finds  that  she 
has  misjudged  her  powers  she  will  have  suffered  no 
harm. 

156 


WOMEN   IN   NEWSPAPER   WORK 

Should  a  woman  give  up  her  position  as  a  school- 
teacher, for  instance,  in  order  to  carry  out  her  desire 
to  be  a  writer?  Certainly  not  until  she  has  secured 
good  evidence  that  she  can  support  herself  with  the 
pen.  Why  any  woman  who  can  get  $800  a  year  for 
teaching  should  wish  to  take  up  the  harder  work  of 
newspaper  reporting  is  difficult  to  understand.  It  is 
easier  to  see  why  a  woman  with  literary  talents  should 
wish  to  write  for  magazines  or  other  periodicals  over 
her  own  name.  In  any  case  the  right  thing  for  her 
to  do  is  to  try  her  powers  without  letting  go  her  hold 
on  her  existing  source  of  income. 

Most  writers  discover  to  their  sorrow,  especially 
during  their  first  years,  that  literature  is  an  excellent 
cane  but  a  poor  crutch — that  it  will  serve  for  earning 
pin-money  but  can  not  be  depended  upon  for  a  liveli- 
hood. For  men  and  women  without  money  one  of 
the  hardest  problems  is  how  to  get  through  these 
lean  years  of  apprenticeship.  A  school-teacher  has 
a  chance  such  as  few  others  have.  She  can  try  her 
powers  by  writing  during  her  leisure  time  without 
giving  up  a  sure  income  for  a  very  uncertain  one. 
After  she  has  found  an  editor  or  publisher  who  will 
take  all  the  articles  she  can  write,  it  will  be  time 
enough  to  think  about  resigning  the  teacher's  desk 
for  the  writer's.  James  Lane  Allen,  the  Kentucky 
novelist,  is  an  example  of  the  right  kind  for  teachers. 
He  worked  patiently  for  years,  writing  stories  during 
his  vacations  and  leisure  moments,  before  he  reached 
a  place  where  he  could  safely  give  up  his  college  pro- 
fessorship. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  many  other  professions 
are  better  stepping-stones  to  literary  success  than  is 
journalism.  Newspaper  writing  must  be  done  so  rap- 
idly, and  must  be  so  severely  free  of  literary  adorn- 
12  157 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

ment,  that  the  training  which  fits  one  for  success  in 
journalism  largely  unfits  one  for  literature.  More 
than  this,  the  hours  of  work  for  the  reporter  are  so 
long  and  the  work  is  so  exacting  that  his  mind  is 
unfitted  for  further  work  with  the  pen  after  his  regu- 
lar day's  work  is  done.  A  bank  clerk  like  Lamb  may 
turn  to  literary  composition  as  a  diversion  where  a 
newspaper  man  would  find  it  drudgery.  This  fact 
makes  it  somewhat  hard  to  get  into  literature  after 
once  getting  into  journalism.  The  two  kinds  of  work 
are  jealous  of  each  other,  and  the  reporter  who  dallies 
with  ambitions  as  a  fiction  writer  has  as  many  tribu- 
lations as  if  he  were  engaged  to  two  girls  at  the  same 
time.  Young  women  with  literary  aspirations  are 
on  the  wrdng  track  when  they  seek  places  as  re- 
porters. 

Many  women  have  an  exalted  idea  of  the  good 
they  might  do  as  reformers  if  they  were  on  a  news- 
paper staff.  The  idea  is  natural,  but  none  the  less 
erroneous.  A  position  as  an  employee  on  a  large 
metropolitan  newspaper  is  one  of  the  last  places  in  the 
world  where  a  man  or  woman  is  likely  to  be  able  to 
do  any  aggressive  work  on  behalf  of  any  special  creed 
or  reform.  The  success,  if  not  the  existence,  of  such 
a  paper  depends  upon  its  power  to  please  as  many 
people  as  possible  and  to  displease  as  few  as  possible. 
To  champion  any  unpopular  reform  would  be  suicide. 
When  a  woman  holds  a  place  on  such  a  paper  it  is 
because  she  conforms  with  its  established  policy  and 
does  not  attempt  to  sermonize  or  set  forth  her  own 
ideas  on  mooted  topics  except  where  they  happen 
to  coincide  with  those  of  the  editor.  The  object  of 
the  modern  newspaper  is  to  attract  the  worldly  penny. 
It  does  not  concern  itself  much  with  mending  people's 
morals.  The  wise  newspaper  publisher  is  not  likely  to 

158 


WOMEN   IN   NEWSPAPER   WORK 

lend  his  columns  for  such  a  purpose.  The  woman 
who  wishes  to  reform  the  world  with  her  pen  must 
pay  her  own  printing  bills. 

A  New  York  newspaper  woman  who  has  summed 
up  the  main  points  in  the  career  of  the  feminine  jour- 
nalist, puts  the  facts  in  such  spirited  style  that  her 
advice  deserves  to  be  repeated  in  her  own  words : 

We  will  suppose  that  you  possess  the  necessary  quali- 
fications. The  next  thing  is  to  get  an  opportunity  to  do 
some  work,  and  the  getting  of  this  opportunity  probably 
will  prove  the  bitterest  and  hardest  task  in  all  your  jour- 
nalistic career. 

It  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  obtain  admission  to  an 
editor's  office.  In  most  cases  you  will  be  asked  to  set 
forth  your  designs  and  desires  in  writing  before  you  are 
allowed  to  set  foot  in  the  elevator.  And  these  desires  will 
be  enough  to  exclude  you.  Editors  are  busy  folks  and 
have  no  time  to  waste  on  unknown  applicants  like  you. 
Perhaps,  however,  you  have  a  letter  of  introduction  to 
some  one  in  authority.  This  is  valuable  in  that  it  gives 
you  a  hearing.  It  usually  has  no  further  merit  whatever, 
as  you  may  find  out  to  your  disappointment  some  day. 

Let  us  suppose  that  you  gain  admission  by  some  wile 
or  other  (nearly  all  wiles  are  justifiable  in  newspaper 
work,  as  you  will  soon  learn).  You  will  be  asked  what 
you  have  already  done,  and  you  will  feel  very  small, 
indeed,  when  you  answer  that  you  have  never  done  any- 
thing. Next  you  will  be  asked  if  you  have  any^  stories 
to  submit  or  any  ideas  to  suggest.  You  will  learn  with  no 
small  degree  of  astonishment  that  ideas  which  seemed 
very  large  and  imposing  at  home  diminish  alarmingly 
when  spoken  of  in  the  presence  of  the  editor.  All  this 
and  much  more  you  will  learn,  and  you  will  go  home 
rather  low  in  your  mind.  It  may  happen  that  the  articles 
which  you  have  submitted  for  consideration  are  returned 
to  you.  It  is  apt  to  happen.  But  again  it  may  happen  that 
something  is  accepted,  and  that  in  time  you  become  a 

159 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

space  writer  on  the  paper.  Space  writing  is  not  very 
remunerative  for  women,  but  beginners  must  not  expect 
to  be  salaried  right  away. 

And  now,  having  fairly  gotten  into  the  business,  you 
will  have  many  things  to  learn,  and  your  only  teacher 
will  be  yourself,  for  most  newspaper  people  are  never 
taught  anything.  They  "  catch  on  "  to  things  somehow,  or 
get  them  knocked  into  their  heads  by  bitter  experience. 

Every  paper  has  a  certain  style  of  writing,  which  you 
will  be  expected  to  follow.  Every  paper  has  a  certain 
policy,  political  and  otherwise,  to  which  you  will  have  to 
conform.  To  be  sure,  you  may  not  always  agree  with 
them,  but  your  personal  opinions  matter  little. 

Punctuality  and  reliability  are  qualities  which  you  will 
do  well  to  cultivate.  They  will  recommend  you  to  your 
editor  quite  ^s  effectually  in  the  long  run  as  mere  bril- 
liancy. There  is  one  woman  in  New  York  who  has  been 
in  newspaper  work  over  fifteen  years.  It  is  her  proudest 
boast  that  she  never  failed  an  editor  or  kept  one  waiting 
in  all  that  time. 

You  must  have  determination.  It  is  not  enough  to 
attempt  a  thing.  You  must  learn  to  stick  to  it  until  it 
is  accomplished ;  if  not  in  the  way  you  originally  intended, 
then  in  some  other  way.  You  must  be  resourceful,  inge- 
nious, a  whole  committee  of  ways  and  means  in  yourself. 

You  must  be  patient.  It  is  not  a  pleasant  thing  to 
wait  an  hour  or  two  for  an  interview  with  a  popular 
danseuse,  or  for  the  last  sweet  thing  from  the  London 
variety,  halls,  but  you  may  have  to,  not  once,  but  often. 
Interviewing  is  one  of  the  hardest  branches  of  the  busi- 
ness. You  are  absolutely  dependent  upon  the  caprice  of 
some  other  person,  and  even  after  that  person  has  con- 
sented to  receive  you,  you  can  not  be  certain  of  obtaining 
what  you  want.  All  these  people  can  be  managed  if  only 
you  know  how  to  go  about  it.  And  you  will  do  well  to 
learn,  or  your  editor  will  be  wary  about  assigning  you 
that  work  or  any  other. 

You  must  be  tireless.  No  matter  if  you  have  worked 
all  day;  you  must  be  willing  to  work  all  night,  too,  if 

160 


WOMEN    IN    NEWSPAPER   WORK 

your  services  are  needed.    Editors  are  very  shy  of  report- 
ers who  beg  off  on  account  of  being  tired. 

And  you  must  be  unselfish.  Good  newspaper  assign- 
ments usually  come  when  they  are  not  wanted.  It  is 
always  the  night  that  you  have  elected  to  go  to  the  thea- 
ter that  a  blue-coated  boy  runs  up  your  front  steps  with 
a  message  summoning  you  to  the  office  immediately.  And 
the  afternoon  that  you  have  expected  to  pass  on  the  cool 
veranda  of  some  woman  friend's  country  house  may 
find  you  sitting  in  the  squalid,  stifling  kitchen  of  a  tene- 
ment house,  listening  to  some  other  woman's  story. 

And  there  are  other  hard  things  which  it  may  be  your 
lot  to  bear.  I  know  a  woman  who  sat  by  the  bedside  of 
her  dying  sister  one  night — the  little  sister  who  was  all 
she  had  left  of  kin  on  earth — and  choked  back  the  tears 
she  dared  not  shed  because  there  was  other  work  for  her 
eyes  that  night ;  who  closed  that  sister's  eyes  and  prepared 
her  little  white  form  for  the  coffin,  and  then,  just  as  the 
gray  dawn  was  creeping  up  over  the  city  roofs,  sat  down 
to  finish  an  article  which  must  be  in  type  that  day. 

Newspaper  work  is  no  play.  It  has  its  compensations, 
but  only  those  who  deserve  receive  them.  And  if  one  is 

lot  afraid  of  the  trials  of  the  work,  is  patient  and  faith- 
ful and  tireless  and  everything  else  commendable,  and  yet 

las  not  a  subtle  quality  about  her  writing — a  suggestive- 

icss,  a  dash,  a  certain  something  that  makes  it  go — she 
never  be  a  success  as  a  newspaper  woman,  and  she 

lad  much  better  try  almost  anything  else. 

Before  a  woman  can  do  much  in  journalism  or  in 
inything  else  she  must  rid  herself  of  what  William  T. 
Stead  calls  the  dishonoring  conception  of  her  work  as 
woman's  work.  She  must  not  think  that  because  she 
is  a  woman  chivalry  demands  that  her  work  be  judged 
more  leniently  than  if  she  were  only  a  man.  An 
editor  wants  matter  that  will  make  people  read  his 
paper,  and  he  cares  nothing  about  the  sex  of  the  per- 
sons who  can  furnish  what  he  seeks.  If  a  woman 

161 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

cherishes  the  notion  that  she  ought  not  to  be  asked 
to  do  this  or  that  disagreeable  bit  of  work,  she  never 
can  find  permanent  employment  on  even  terms  with 
men.  Women  who  cling  to  the  comfortable  notion 
that  they  ought  not  to  be  scolded  when  they  do  wrong, 
or  that  a  lady  ought  not  to  go  about  the  streets  alone 
after  nine  o'clock  at  night,  belong  at  home  in  their 
parlors  rather  than  in  the  local  room  of  a  metropolitan 
daily. 

Ideals  of  feminine  propriety  have  changed  a  good 
deal  in  the  last  century,  as  have  also  the  guarantees 
of  personal  safety  in  cities  at  all  times  of  the  night 
or  day.  Probably  it  is  true,  as  Mr.  Stead  says,  that 
a  girl  who  has  proper  self-respect  can  go  about  her 
business  in  English-speaking  countries  at  all  hours 
without  serious  risk  either  to  safety  or  to  reputation. 
But  the  fact  remains  that  the  feminine  reporter  who 
attempts  to  do  general  assignments  must  suffer  an- 
noyances that  never  trouble  the  masculine  reporter. 

The  sum  of  the  matter  is,  that  a  woman  usually 
must  possess  the  journalistic  talent  to  a  more  marked 
degree  than  a  man  in  order  to  secure  a  position  on  a 
newspaper,  because  there  are  special  disabilities  and 
prejudices  that  stand  in  her  way.  Yet  in  the  few 
departments  that  appeal  directly  to  feminine  readers, 
such  as  the  fashions  and  household  matters,  the  soci- 
ety column,  the  page  for  children,  and  perhaps  the 
book  reviews,  the  opportunities  for  women  are  multi- 
plying from  year  to  year.  In  the  domain  of  light 
literature  lies  the  best  opportunity  of  all  for  women 
with  the  right  kind  of  ability.  The  massive  Sunday 
supplement  is  a  distinct  gain  for  feminine  writers, 
especially  when  they  are  experts  with  the  camera  as 
well  as  with  the  pen. 

The  great  trouble  with  young  women,  as  with 

162 


WOMkN    IN    NEWSPAPER   WORK 

yoimg  men,  is  that  they  forget  that  journalism  is  a 
profession  requiring  years  of  training,  trial,  and  fail- 
ure before  it  is  learned.  They  expect  to  have  their 
first  manuscript  accepted,  though  they  never  would 
expect  a  merchant  to  accept  and  put  on  sale  the  first 
gown  or  shirt-waist  they  ever  made,  or  the  first  hat 
they  trimmed.  Patient  and  long-continued  practise 
in  private  or  upon  a  small  paper  is  the  only  reliable 
passport  to  success  in  the  larger  field  of  metropolitan 
journalism. 


XII 

A  CHAPTER   ON  ERRORS 

NEARLY  all  the  errors  that  the  newspaper  man  is 
liable  to  make  may  be  classified  under  the  following 
comprehensive  heads :  Incorrect  spelling,  punctua- 
tion, or  grammar;  illegible  or  carelessly  prepared 
copy;  mixed  metaphors  and  loose  arrangement  of 
phrases ;  wrong  or  redundant  words ;  misstatement  of 
fact,  and  wrong  treatment  of  subject.  It  requires  a 
liberal  education  and  years  of  practise  to  avoid  the 
myriad  possibilities  of  error  thus  indicated,  and  even 
the  most  careful  purist  will  sometimes  be  caught 
napping.  Almost  every  writer  has  a  choice  selection 
of  pet  mistakes  that  he  perpetrates  habitually  and  un- 
consciously. This  is  one  reason  why  the  matter  in 
a  newspaper  office  is  almost  always  improved  in  accu- 
racy and  elegance  by  passing  through  a  copy  reader's 
hands,  even  though  the  desk  man  be  no  better  edu- 
cated than  the  author  of  the  manuscript. 

English  spelling  is  arbitrary  and  complicated,  but 
the  writer  who  has  failed  to  learn  to  spell  with  rea- 
sonable correctness  starts  in  with  a  tremendous  handi- 
cap. Certain  public  schools  in  which  spelling  is  now 
slurred  over  in  pursuance  of  the  so-called  "  word 
method  "  of  reading  are  doing  an  irreparable  wrong 
to  their  pupils.  An  ill-spelled  manuscript,  when  sub- 
mitted to  an  editor  for  publication,  is  almost  certain  to 
be  rejected  without  being  read  through.  It  is  true 

164 


A   CHAPTER   ON    ERRORS 

that  the  printer  could  usually  spell  all  the  words  cor- 
rectly when  putting  the  matter  into  type,  but  the 
trouble  lies  deeper.  An  editor  almost  inevitably  judges 
a  new  writer's  whole  mental  equipment  partly  by  his 
spelling.  "  Show  me  a  careless  speller,"  he  says,  "  and 
I  will  show  you  a  careless  and  inaccurate  thinker. 
The  man  or  woman  who  never  notices  how  a  new 
word  is  spelled  is  not  a  sufficiently  close  observer  to 
make  a  reliable  reporter." 

To  some  extent  the  same  thing  is  true  of  a  badly 
punctuated  manuscript.  The  popular  impression  that 
a  manuscript  is  good  enough  if  it  be  punctuated  with 
periods  and  dashes  is  especially  exasperating  to  the 
editor,  for  it  falls  to  his  lot  to  go  painfully  through 
all  "  copy "  and  see  that  every  comma,  semicolon, 
colon,  period,  dash,  apostrophe,  and  quotation  mark 
is  clearly  marked  in  its  proper  place.  He  may  be 
willing  to  incur  this  extra  labor  upon  the  manuscripts 
of  widely  known  or  talented  writers,  but  in  choosing 
from  a  pile  of  "  unknowns  "  he  is  pretty  sure  to  give 
first  preference  to  an  article  that  is  properly  punc- 
tuated. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  printer,  bad  punctuation  is  even 
worse  than  bad  spelling,  because  he  usually  can  guess 
what  is  meant  by  a  misspelled  word ;  but  how  can  he 
tell  what  thought  the  writer  had  in  mind  when  the 
proper  dividing  marks  are  missing?  Take,  for  in- 
stance, that  trite  subject  for  an  after-dinner  speech: 
'  Woman — without  her  man  would  be  a  savage." 
Those  words  may  be  profoundly  true  whether  there 
be  a  dash  after  the  first  word  or  not,  but  the  punctua- 
tion certainly  has  a  vital  bearing  upon  the  thought 
expressed.  For  any  one  who  expects  to  do  success- 
ful newspaper  work  there  is  no  alternative;  he  must 
learn  to  spell  and  punctuate  accurately. 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

In  the  first  ages  of  printing  there  were  only  three 
marks  of  punctuation:  the  comma,  frequently  made 
as  an  upright  stroke ;  the  colon,  and  the  period.  Later 
the  semicolon,  exclamation,  and  interrogation  marks 
were  added.  Quotation  marks,  the  bane  of  the  com- 
positor and  the  most  frequent  cause  of  typographical 
errors,  are  a  recent  invention.  Dashes,  parentheses, 
and  brackets  existed  before  type,  but  came  into  print- 
ing long  after  it  was  an  established  art. 

Custom  has  determined  the  chief  use  of  each  mark. 
The  comma  indicates  the  smallest  subdivisions  of  a 
sentence ;  it  also  marks  the  point  where  an  explanatory 
clause  is  begun  or  ended.  The  semicolon  marks  the 
separation  of  two  incomplete  or  interdependent  sen- 
tences. The  colon  stands  where  the  preceding  sen- 
tence or  part  of  a  sentence  ends  with  expectancy  that 
is  to  be  satisfied  with  what  immediately  follows.  The 
period  or  full-point  indicates  that  the  sentence  is  end- 
ed. The  parentheses  indicate  that  one  clause  or  sen- 
tence (usually  explanatory)  is  within  another  sentence. 
Brackets  [thus]  show  that  what  is  enclosed  is  inter- 
polated, usually  by  some  person  other  than  the  writer 
of  the  original  discourse,  and  the  dash  indicates  that 
one  idea  is  suddenly  broken  into  by  another  idea. 
The  exclamation  and  interrogation  marks  explain 
themselves. 

There  is  a  considerable  variation  of  usage,  and 
books  usually  are  punctuated  more  closely  than  news- 
papers. The  tendency  is  to  use  fewer  commas  than 
formerly,  but  even  the  practised  hand  is  liable  to  be 
puzzled  sometimes  as  to  the  proper  placing  of  those 
that  are  used.  The  perplexing  problem  of  where  to 
use  the  comma  will  be  more  than  half  solved  when 
once  the  writer  grasps  the  fact  that  commas  usually 
go  in  pairs,  though  the  intervention  of  the  period  often 

166 


A    CHAPTER   ON    ERRORS 

obscures  the  fact,  and  that  parentheses  could  be  sub- 
stituted for  them,  as  was  done  in  the  preceding  para- 
graph. In  the  sixteenth  century  the  parenthesis  was 
often  used  in  place  of  the  comma ;  custom  has  merely 
shortened  the  mark  and  broadened  its  scope  of  use- 
fulness. A  pair  of  dashes  is  often  substituted  now 
for  the  original  parentheses.  The  purely  parenthet- 
ical expression,  however,  in  this  or  any  other  form, 
should  be  used  sparingly,  if  at  all,  in  journalistic  wri- 
ting. Editors  and  newspaper  readers  have  an  aver- 
sion to  long  parentheses.  They  would  rather  have 
two  distinct  sentences.  It  would  be  well  for  the  be- 
ginner to  humor  them. 

For  the  employment  of  the  much-abused  quota- 
tion marks  the  author  some  years  ago  formulated  the 
following  rule,  which  is  as  simple  as  he  knows  how 
to  make  it,  though  he  confesses  that  a  mere  reading 
of  it  has  not  always  sufficed  to  produce  perfection  in 
practise  : 

"  Use  the  ordinary  double  marks  to  enclose  the 
alternating  speeches  in  a  dialogue ;  also  all  utterances 
repeated  in  the  exact  language  of  the  original  speak- 
er. Where  a  quotation  occurs  within  a  quotation, 
use  the  '  single '  marks  to  designate  it.  If  you 
should  ever  have  still  a  third  quotation  '  inside 
of  these  "  single "  marks,'  use  double  ones  again. 
Where  the  same  speaker  continues  through  more 
than  one  paragraph,  omit  the  quotation  marks  at  the 
end  of  all  paragraphs  except  the  last,  but  repeat  them 
at  the  beginning  of  every  paragraph.  Be  sure  not  to 
forget  to  mark  the  close  of  the  quotation;  this  fre- 
quent lapse  of  the  literary  slattern  is  extremely  annoy- 
ing to  the  printer  and  proof-reader." 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  touch  upon  the  impor- 
tance of  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  rules  of  gram- 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

mar.  To  undertake  the  profession  of  writing  without 
knowing  grammar  is  like  trying  to  practise  a  trade 
without  knowing  the  tools  that  belong  to  it.  Even  the 
best-educated  writer  is  liable  sometimes  to  be  puzzled 
or  to  make  an  occasional  error  through  carelessness. 
But  there  are  certain  flagrant  and  oft-repeated  errors — 
made  most  frequently  by  the  incompetent  who  prides 
himself  upon  his  ability  to  "  throw  off  "  his  copy  at  a 
high  rate  of  speed — which  will  bar  the  way  to  success. 

One  of  the  errors  that  render  life  a  burden  to  the 
copy  reader  is  the  reporter's  and  country  correspond- 
ent's careless  use  of  pronouns  referring  to  collective 
nouns.  Words  like  mob,  army,  orchestra,  society, 
family,  can  be  used  with  either  a  singular  or  a  plural 
verb,  and  mjist  have  singular  or  plural  pronouns  re- 
ferring to  them  accordingly.  It  is  exasperating  to  the 
copy  reader  when  a  reporter  writes :  "  The  society 
has  decided  to  hold  a  special  meeting,  and  they  will 
assemble,"  and  so  on  through  a  long  sentence  or 
paragraph.  And  if  the  error  should  happen  to  slip 
through  the  copy  reader's  hands  it  will  make  trouble 
for  the  proof-reader  and  printer  as  well.  Use  the 
pronoun  in  the  singular  if  the  idea  of  unity  is  to  be 
conveyed,  and  in  the  plural  if  the  idea  of  plurality  is 
to  be  conveyed.  Thus,  "  The  mob  comes  on  in  one 
compact  body  and  hurls  itself  against  the  gates  " ;  or, 
"  The  mob  now  scatter  in  every  direction  and  yell  as 
they  move  off."  Don't  mix  the  two  styles  in  the  same 
sentence — not  even  in  the  same  paragraph. 

Careless  use  of  personal  pronouns  is  equally  inex- 
cusable. Never  use  a  pronoun  without  considering 
to  what  noun  it  will  relate  when  the  whole  sentence 
is  read.  It  is  always  better  to  repeat  a  name  than  to 
use  a  pronoun  that  will  leave  any  doubt  about  its 
antecedent. 

168 


A   CHAPTER   ON   ERRORS 

If  you  have  not  mastered  the  mystery  of  "  shall " 
and  "  will "  it  is  time  you  did  so.  Remember  that 
"  I  shall,  you  will,  he  will,"  are  the  forms  of  simple 
futurity  and  merely  foretell  what  is  expected  to  take 
place.  "  I  will,  you  shall,  he  shall,"  express  deter- 
mination on  the  part  of  the  speaker;  they  indicate 
that  he  means  to  see  this  thing  done  or  know  the 
reason  why.  Also  avoid  the  split  infinitive.  Don't 
say,  "  to  earnestly  try,"  or  "  to  strenuously  resist," 
and  so  forth,  when  you  mean  "  to  try  earnestly,"  or 
"  strenuously  to  resist."  The  adverb  should  stand  as 
near  as  possible  to  the  term  which  it  limits,  but  this 
does  not  mean  that  you  should  split  the  part  of  speech 
and  insert  the  modifying  word  between  the  mangled 
fragments.  The  average  man  on  the  street — and 
some  Presidents  of  the  United  States — use  the  split 
infinitive,  but  no  accepted  master  of  elegant  English 
ever  does  it.  These  and  a  hundred  similar  points  can 
be  learned  by  studying  the  style  of  writers  like  George 
William  Curtis,  William  Dean  Howells,  and  Andrew 
Lang.  Their  style  is  literary  and  not  journalistic, 
because  they  have  written  books  and  not  newspapers, 
but  their  English  is  pure  and  their  grammar  accurate. 
There  is  no  reason  why  newspaper  English  should 
not  be  as  pure  and  accurate  as  that  used  in  books. 

Errors  of  arrangement,  mixed  metaphors,  and  all 
the  kindred  tortures  inflicted  upon  a  long-suffering 
language  are  usually  the  result  of  carelessness  rather 
than  of  ignorance.  There  is  no  excuse  for  the  man 
who  writes,  "  Fourteen  persons  have  been  injured 
fatally,  by  the  official  report  of  the  World's  Fair  au- 
thorities," or  "  He  blew  out  his  brains  after  bidding 
his  wife  good-by  with  a  gun."  Metaphors  are  among 
the  most  useful  servants  of  the  writer  so  long  as  he 
treats  them  with  Christian  consideration.  He  ceases 

169 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

to  do  this  when  he  mixes  them.  Take  your  metaphors 
straight,  or  abstain  from  their  use  entirely.  Don't 
refer  to  your  rival's  scurrilous  attack  as  a  mere  flea- 
bite  in  the  ocean.  Never  confess  that  you  have  seen 
the  footprints  of  an  Almighty  hand  beaming  athwart 
the  diapason  of  eternity.  Forbear  to  electrify  your 
audience,  as  a  Berlin  revolutionist  did,  by  declaring 
that  the  chariot  of  anarchy  is  rolling  onward  and 
gnashing  its  teeth  as  it  rolls.  If  you  will  insist  on 
writing,  as  a  Boston  editor  did,  about  being  blinded 
by  the  noise  of  brass  bands,  you  must  not  expect  that 
the  fragrance  of  your  memory  will  go  thundering 
down  the  dim  vistas  of  the  years,  for  it  won't. 

A  needlessly  long  word  is  almost  as  bad  as  an 
absolutely  wrong  word.  Redundant  words  are  ob- 
stacles between  the  reader  and  the  idea  to  be  con- 
veyed. Any  word  that  can  be  dropped  out  without 
altering  or  obscuring  the  sense  is  an  error.  Next 
to  the  ability  to  see,  and  to  tell  what  you  have  seen, 
the  power  to  condense  is  the  most  valuable  qualifica- 
tion for  journalism.  The  best  writer  is  he  who  can 
convey  the  largest  number  of  ideas  in  the  smallest 
number  of  syllables. 

Misstatement  of  fact,  of  course,  is  worse  than  any 
of  these  verbal  errors.  This  is  the  bane  of  the  news- 
paper. The  constant  recurrence  of  errors  of  fact 
shakes  the  confidence  of  the  reader  in  everything 
printed  in  the  paper,  injuring  it  in  exact  proportion  to 
the  persistence  with  which  they  occur.  The  primary 
object  of  the  public  in  reading  a  newspaper  is  to  learn 
the  facts  about  the  happenings  of  the  day.  Habitual 
misrepresentation  and  inaccuracy  will  kill  any  paper. 
Yet  even  the  best  newspapers  contain  some  errors  of 
fact.  Misstatements  in  some  cases  are  made  deliber- 
ately for  sensational  purposes,  being  interpolated  into 

170 


A   CHAPTER   ON   ERRORS 

the  reporter's  manuscript  after  it  is  in  the  copy  read- 
er's hands.  In  other  cases  they  are  wilful  "  fakes  " 
concocted  by  the  reporter  and  published  by  the  editor 
in  good  faith — a  thing  not  likely  to  be  done  a  second 
time  by  the  same  reporter  if  he  is  detected.  But  the 
vast  majority  of  the  errors  of  fact  that  creep  into  the 
daily  press  are  entirely  unintentional.  Nine-tenths 
of  them  are  the  fault  of  the  persons  giving  the  infor- 
mation. The  best  way  to  avoid  errors  of  this  kind 
is  to  get  your  story  from  two  or  three  different  sources 
and  draw  a  mean  from  their  extremes. 

Wrong  treatment  of  subjects  is  primarily  a  matter 
that  concerns  managing  editors  and  owners  of  news- 
papers. Every  paper  has  its  own  policy  and  style  of 
serving  the  news,  and  the  reporter  must  learn  to  cast 
his  stories  into  the  particular  mold  adopted  by  the 
journal  on  which  he  works.  The  only  way  in  which 
to  learn  this  is  to  read  the  paper  carefully  every  day, 
including  the  editorial  page. 

The  right  use  of  words  should  be  a  matter  of  life- 
long study.  No  man  can  ever  learn  all  there  is  to 
know  about  all  the  words  of  the  magnificent  instrument 
of  expression  called  the  English  language,  but  any 
student  can  in  time  acquire  a  pure  and  beautiful  diction. 
The  best  guide  to  such  a  style  is  a  sensitive  literary 
conscience,  acquired  by  reading  only  the  best  writers 
and  absorbing  their  vocabulary.  This  should  be  sup- 
plemented with  a  habitual  study  of  the  root  meanings 
of  words.  Anybody  who  has  studied  enough  French 
to  know  that  "  nee  "  means  "  born  "  is  not  likely  to 
speak  of  "  Mrs.  Smith,  nee  Sarah  Jones."  However 
precocious  Mrs.  Smith  may  have  been,  she  was  born 
a  Jones  and  not  Sarah  Jones.  Anybody  who  has 
made  an  intelligent  study  of  grammar  should  not 
write  "  try  and  do  "  when  he  means  "  try  to  do."  An 

171 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

attempt  to  parse  the  words  will  cure  the  habit.  "  But 
what"  in  place  of  "  but,"  or  "he  don't"  for  "he 
doesn't,"  or  "  suicided  "  for  "  committed  suicide,"  are 
solecisms  which  no  self-respecting  writer  of  average 
intelligence  is  likely  to  commit. 

Yet  even  the  best  writers  have  pet  failings  of  their 
own.  Thus,  Mr.  Kipling  and  other  noted  authors 
constantly  use  "  as  though  "  when  they  mean  "  as  if." 
The  full  meaning  of  the  phrase  is,  "  as  it  would  be  if." 
To  say,  "  he  talks  as  though  he  were  angry,"  is  the 
same  as  saying  "  he  talks  as  he  would  talk  though 
he  were  angry,"  which  is  manifestly  not  what  the 
writer  means  to  say.  Another  favorite  error  of  the 
learned  is  the  omission  of  the  word  "  other  "  in  sen- 
tences like  'this :  "  No  writer  ever  '  made '  a  man  as 
Ruskin  did  Turner."  This  sentence  is  taken  from  a 
recent  critical  volume  by  William  C.  Brownell,  one 
of  the  best  of  American  critics,  and  he  makes  the 
same  mistake  repeatedly. 

Typographical  errors,  like  the  poor,  are  always 
with  us.  They  are  a  matter  which  the  proof-reader 
and  the  compositor  must  settle  with  their  own  con- 
sciences— and  employers.  The  best  the  writer  can 
do  toward  keeping  these  annoying  blunders  out  of 
his  matter  is  to  write  legibly.  The  typewriter  has  re- 
duced certain  classes  of  errors  at  least  seventy-five 
per  cent. 

The  errors  that  most  do  flourish  in  the  reporter's 
room  of  the  modern  newspaper  consist  in  the  slight 
misuse  of  words — not  marked  enough  to  attain  the 
charm  of  Mrs.  Partington's  literary  style,  yet  not  cor- 
rect enough  to  be  good  English.  Many  of  these  cor- 
ruptions grow  out  of  the  habitual  use  of  slang  in 
private  conversation,  which  dulls  the  ear  and  drugs 
the  literary  conscience.  I  have  little  sympathy  with 

172 


A   CHAPTER   ON   ERRORS 

the  purists  who  would  reduce  English  to  a  dead  lan- 
guage by  forbidding  all  change  or  growth.  Even 
slang  has  its  uses  and  has  contributed  valuable  words 
and  terse  expressions  now  incorporated  in  the  lan- 
guage to  its  lasting  benefit.  But  the  fact  remains  that 
a  habitual  carelessness  in  the  choice  of  words  ruins 
the  writer's  style  and  ultimately  extinguishes  his  hope 
of  advancement.  No  man  has  used  purer  English  in 
newspaper  work  than  William  Cullen  Bryant  did  in 
his  day.  When  he  was  editor  of  the  New  York  Eve- 
ning Post  he  absolutely  forbade  the  use  of  a  long  list 
of  words  which  he  disliked — I  had  almost  said  "  ta- 
booed," but  that  was  one  of  his  interdicted  words. 
A  few  of  the  items  on  his  famous  Index  Expurgato- 
rius  now  seem  needlessly  finical,  and  some  have  be- 
come accepted  parts  of  the  language.  For  instance, 
he  forbade  the  use  of  the  words  collided,  donate,  and 
talented ;  also  "  is  being  done,"  and  all  passives  of  this 
form.  In  spite  of  the  strenuous  efforts  of  men  like 
Mr.  Bryant  and  Richard  Grant  White  to  discourage 
this  convenient  passive  form,  it  is  now  in  general  use, 
and  the  language  is  the  better  for  it.  But  in  the  great 
majority  of  cases  Mr.  Bryant's  catalogue  of  interdicted 
terms  is  still  as  useful  as  it  was  in  his  day.  Here  is 
the  list,  shorn  of  a  few  whimsicalities  like  those  just 
quoted : 

DO   NOT  USE 

Above  or  over  for  "more  Beat  for  "defeat." 

than."  Casket  for  "  coffin." 

Artiste  for  "  artist."  Claimed    for   "  asserted." 

Authoress.  Commence    for   "begin." 

Bagging    for    "capturing."  Cortege  for  "procession." 

Balance  for  "  remainder."  Cotemporary  for  "  contem- 
Banquet  for  "  dinner "  or  porary." 

"  supper."  Couple  for  "  two." 

13  173 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 


"  negro." 


yesterday    for 
before  yester- 


Darky  for 

Day  before 
"the  day 
day." 

Decease  as  a  verb. 

Democracy  applied  to  a  po- 
litical party. 

Develop  for  "  exposed." 

Devouring  element  for 
"  fire." 

Endorse  for  "  approve." 

En  route. 

"  Esq." 

Gents  for  "  gentlemen." 

Graduate  for  "  is  gradu- 
ated." 

"  Hon." 

House  for  "  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives." 

Inaugurate  for  "  begin." 

In  our  midst. 

Jeopardize  for  "  jeopard." 

Juvenile  for  "boy." 

Lady  for  "  wife." 

Lengthy  for  "long." 

Leniency  for  "lenity." 

Loafer. 

Loan  or  loaned  for  "  lend  " 
or  "  lent." 

Majority,  relating  to  places 
or  circumstances,  for 
"  most." 

Mrs.  President,  Mrs.  Gov- 
ernor, Mrs.  General,  and 
all  similar  titles. 

Mutual  for  "  common." 

Official  for  "  officer." 

On  yesterday. 

Ovation. 


good," 


Pants  for  "  pantaloons." 

Partially  for  "partly." 

Parties  for  "  persons." 

Past  two  weeks  for  "  last 
two  weeks,"  and  all  simi- 
lar expressions  relating 
to  a  definite  time. 

Poetess. 

Portion  for  "part." 

Posted  for  "informed." 

Progress  (verb)  for  "  ad- 
vance." 

Quite,  prefixed  to 
"large,"  etc. 

Realized  for  "obtained." 

Reliable  for  "  trustworthy." 

Repudiate  for  "reject"  or 
"  disown." 

Retire  as  an  active  verb. 

Rev.  for  "  the  Rev." 

Role  for  "  part." 

Sensation  for  "  noteworthy 
event." 

Standpoint    for   "  point 
view." 

State  for  "  say." 

Talent    for    "  talents " 
"  ability." 

Tapis. 

The  deceased. 

Transpire  for 

Vicinity     for 
hood." 

Wall  Street  slang  generally 
— bulls,  bears,  long,  short, 
corner,  tight,  moribund, 
comatose,  etc. 

Wharves  for  "wharfs." 

Would  seem  for 

174 


of 


or 


"  occur." 


"  neighbor- 


"  seems." 


A   CHAPTER   ON   ERRORS 


Mr.  Bryant's  noted  list  of  forbidden  expressions 
has  had  a  wide-spread  influence  in  shaping  the  style 
of  the  leading  newspapers  of  America.  Nearly  all  of 
these  now  have  still  more  extensive  sheets  of  printed 
instructions  which  are  placed  in  the  hands  of  every, 
reporter  and  copy  reader.  Some  of  these  "  style 
papers "  set  forth  the  pet  aversions  of  hypercritical 
purists,  but  in  general  they  are  exercising  a  salutary 
influence  upon  American  newspaper  English.  For 
example,  here  are  some  of  the  sensible  additions  that 
the  New  York  Press  has  made  to  the  pioneer  "  in- 
dex "  already  cited  : 

DON'T  MISUSE 


Ability  for  "  capacity." 
Allude  for  "  refer." 
Amateur  for  "  novice." 
Anticipate  for  "  expect." 
Apt  for  "  likely." 
Audience  for  "  spectators." 
Balance    for    "  remainder " 

or  "  rest." 

Bountiful  for  "plentiful." 
But  for  "  only."     When  in 

doubt,  use  "  only." 
Caption  for  "  heading." 
Captivate   for   "  charm." 
Conclude  for  "close."     To 
conclude     is     a     mental 
process. 

Consummate,  referring  to 
marriage.  Look  for  the 
word  in  the  diction- 
ary. 

Convened.  The  delegates, 
not  the  convention,  con- 
vened. 


Crime,  a  statutory  wrong; 
sin,  a  violation  of  creed; 
vice,  a  moral  wrong. 

Depot  for  "  passenger  sta- 
tion," or  station  for 
"  freight  depot." 

Dock  for  "  pier "  or 
"  wharf." 

Don't  for  "  doesn't." 

During  for  "in."  "Dur- 
ing the  night "  means 
throughout  the  night. 

Every  for  "  all." 

Event  for  "  incident,"  "  af- 
fair," "  occurrence,"  or 
"  happening." 

Exemplary  for  "  excellent." 

Exposition   for  "  exhibit." 

Groom  for  "  bridegroom." 

Inaugurate  for  "  begin." 

Initial  for  "  first." 

Jewelry  for  "  jewels." 

Learn  for  "teach." 


175 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 


Leave  for  "let."  Leave, 
as  a  verb,  unless  refer- 
ring to  things  that  leave, 
must  have  an  object. 

Loan,  as  a  verb,  for  "  lend." 

Lurid  for  "brilliant."  Lu- 
rid means  pale,  gloomy, 
or  ghastly. 

Marry.  Don't  "  marry  "  a 
man;  the  woman  is  mar- 
ried to  the  man,  and  the 
clergyman  or  magistrate 
marries  both. 

Murderous  for  "  deadly " 
or  "dangerous." 

Notable  for  "noteworthy." 

Observe  (to  heed)  for 
"  say." 


Patrons  for  "  customers." 

People  for  "persons." 

Render.  You  sing  a  song, 
but  render  lard  or  a  judg- 
ment. 

Retire  for  "go  to  bed." 

Remains  for  "  corpse "  or 
"  body." 

Spell  for  "period." 

Stopped  for  "  stayed."  One 
stays  in  a  hotel. 

Tender  for  "  give."  Ten- 
der a  payment;  give  a 
reception. 

Transpire   for  "  occur." 

Unwell  for  "  ill." 

Ventilate  for  "expose"  or 
"  explain." 


DON'T  USE 


Accord  for  "give." 

Aggravate   for  "  irritate." 

Approve  of  for  "  approve." 

Cablegram  for  "  cable  mes- 
sage "  or  "  despatch." 

Canine  for  "  dog." 

Claim  as  an  intransitive 
verb.  You  can  claim  your 
hat,  but  you  can  not  claim 
that  your  hat  was  stolen. 

Derail. 

Divine  as  a  noun. 

Locate,  unless  you  locate  a 
railroad,  a  canal,  a  claim, 
or  the  like. 

Magnate. 

Matter,  oftener  than  once 
a  week. 


Mrs.  General,  or  Mrs.  Doc- 
tor, unless  the  woman  is 
a  general  or  a  doctor. 

Obsequies. 

Slang,  stock  expressions, 
or  cheap  phrases.  This 
covers  a  multitude  of 
sins. 

The  deceased,  the  unfortu- 
nate, the  accused,  and 
the  like. 

Very,  oftener  than  once  a 
week. 

Via,  per  diem,  and  the  like; 
say,  "by  way  of,"  "a 
day,"  and  "  a  week." 

Vicinity  without  "  its." 
"Its  vicinity." 


I76 


A   CHAPTER   ON    ERRORS 

DON'T 

Don't  begin  a  story  with  "  Yesterday,"  "  Last  night," 
and  the  like. 

Don't  begin  a  story  with  "The,"  "A,"  or  "An," 
oftener  than  once  a  week. 

Don't  "put  in  an  appearance"  or  "make  an  appear- 
ance"; just  appear. 

Don't  say  "  a  dinner  occurred "  and  "  an  explosion 
took  place."  Things  occur  by  chance  or  accident;  they 
take  place  by  arrangement. 

Don't  separate  the  parts  of  infinitives,  or  needlessly 
separate  the  parts  of  verbs ;  say  "  to  begin  again,"  not 
"  to  again  begin  " ;  say  "  probably  will  be,"  not  "  will  prob- 
ably be." 

Don't  say  "he  was  given  a  dinner,"  when  the  dinner 
was  given  for  him  or  in  his  honor. 

Don't  use  "  Mr."  before  a  full  name,  but  do  say  "  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  John  Smith,"  "  Mr.  Smith  and  Mrs.  Smith." 

Don't  make  titles.  Use  "  Smith,  a  car  conductor,"  not 
"  Car  Conductor  Smith." 

Don't  give  "  ovations  "  to  anybody. 

Don't  stab  anybody  "  in  the  fracas." 

Don't  "  administer  "  blows  or  punishment. 

Don't  use  "  he  graduated."    Say  "  he  was  graduated." 

If  you  are  a  copy  reader  and  have  a  particularly  illegi- 
ble piece  of  copy,  don't  pass  it  over  and  send  it  down 
stairs  in  the  hope  that  perhaps  the  "  intelligent  compos- 
itor "  may  be  able  to  read  it. 

One  more  list  of  instructions  of  this  kind  will  be 
enough  at  this  juncture,  not  because  it  will  complete 
the  catalogue  of  possible  errors,  but  because  it  is  well 
not  to  take  this  kind  of  medicine  in  too  large  doses. 
When  a  writer  is  beset  with  too  many  limitations  and 
is  compelled  to  watch  his  words  too  closely  he  loses 
the  freedom  of  thought  needed  for  spirited  writing. 
The  correct  forms  should  be  studied  at  leisure  and 

177 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

should  gradually  become  a  part  of  one's  natural 
vocabulary.  The  best  way  is  to  read  these  lists  over 
frequently  and  thoughtfully,  impressing  a  few  new 
points  on  the  mind  each  time.  There  are  extremely 
few  writers,  even  among  the  most  polished,  who  will 
not  find  some  of  these  "  don'ts  "  beneficial.  The  Chi- 
cago Tribune  places  in  the  hands  of  its  reporters  a 
sheet  of  instructions  containing,  among  other  things, 
the  following  pointed  paragraphs : 

In  giving  dates  abbreviate  name  of  month  when  fol- 
lowed by  the  day  of  the  month.  Do  not  say  "  the  25th 
of  December,"  but  Dec.  25. 

In  referring  to  a  minister  use  "  the  Rev.  Mr.  So-and- 
So,"  not  "  Rev.  So-and-So." 

In  giving  ages  of  persons  or  dimensions  of  buildings, 
etc.,  use  figures;  in  giving  sums  of  money  use  figures  for 
all  amounts  over  nine  cents;  in  other  cases  spell  out  all 
under  100.  Do  not  write  a  number  in  figures  and  then 
"  ring  "  it  unless  you  are  sure  you  are  right.  It  is  easier 
for  the  copy  reader  to  "  ring  "  a  number  to  "  spell  out " 
than  it  is  to  cross  out  a  ring.  The  same  rule  applies  to 
abbreviations. 

Do  not  begin  an  item  with  "  Yesterday."  The  event 
is  more  important  than  the  date. 

Except  occasionally  in  reports  of  society  events  John 
Jones  is  plain  John  Jones,  not  "  Mr."  John  Jones.  The 
same  rule  applies  to  the  Smiths  and  others. 

The  use  of  the  word  "  about "  should  be  avoided  when 
possible.  If  you  write  "  There  were  2,000  people  in  the 
hall,"  the  round  numbers  are  a  sufficient  indication  that 
there  was  not  an  actual  count  of  those  present. 

In  referring  to  locations  it  is  sufficient  to  say  "  State 
and  Madison  Streets,"  not  "  at  the  corner  of  State  and 
Madison  Streets."  "  Corner "  is  allowable  if  you  are 
giving  the  location  exactly,  as  "  northwest  corner  of  State 
and  Madison  Streets." 

"  Lady  "  is  a  much  misused  word.    "  Woman  "  is  pref- 


A   CHAPTER   ON   ERRORS 

erable  in  all  cases  except  where  it  appears  in  the  name  of 
an  organization,  as  in  "  Board  of  Lady  Managers."  The 
mistress  of  a  defaulter  was  recently  referred  to  as  a 
"  beautiful  lady." 

Never  begin  a  paragraph  at  the  bottom  of  a  page.  It 
necessitates  the  rewriting  of  a  part  of  the  paragraph  by 
a  copy  reader.  Never  divide  a  word  on  the  last  line  of 
a  page,  and  never  divide  a  name  on  the  last  line  of  a 
page.  The  full  name  should  be  on  one  page. 

Never  use  the  word  "deceased."  And  in  obituary 
notices  do  not  refer  to  "the  dead  man."  The  latter  is 
allowable  in  police  news,  however. 

If  a  man  be  "well  known"  it  is  not  necessary  to 
say  so. 

If  a  quotation  is  to  have  paragraphs  in  it,  paragraph 
the  beginning  of  it.  It  should  be  "  run  in  "  after  a  colon 
only  when  all  that  is  included  between  the  quotation  marks 
is  to  be  one  paragraph,  and  not  always  then. 

It  is  the  unexpected  that  "  occurs."  Weddings  do  not 
belong  to  this  class. 

These  words  are  not  to  be  used:  "Deceased,"  "ova- 
tion," "  past "  where  "  last "  can  be  used,  and  "  balance  " 
where  it  means  "  remainder." 

In  giving  the  text  of  a  sermon  observe  the  following 
style :  "  John  iv,  6.  Luke  vii,  7." 

Don't  use  "  Sabbath  "  where  "  Sunday  "  will  do. 

Don't  use  "  gentleman  "  when  you  can  avoid  doing  so. 

Every  inanimate  object,  as  a  boat,  an  engine,  etc.,  is 
"  it,"  and  not  "  she."  A  ship  loses  "  its,"  not  "  her  "  mast. 
The  same  rule  applies  to  the  use  of  pronouns  in  referring 
to  cities,  states,  countries,  etc. 

Time  is  of  the  greatest  importance.  Get  your  copy 
into  the  office  at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  Nothing 
counts  against  a  man  more  than  dilatoriness. 

In  preparing  lists  of  names  in  society  reports,  group 
as  follows:  "Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Bink,"  "Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Henry  Bultitude,"  and  so  on.  Then  in  a  separate  para- 
graph write:  "Mrs.  Susan  Noodles,  Mrs.  William  Skil- 
lings,"  etc.  Then  in  another  paragraph,  "Misses  Ellen 

179 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

Flannigan,  Maggie  McGinty,"  etc.  Then  give  the  names 
of  the  gentlemen  present,  thus:  "Patrick  O'Brien,  Hans 
Deutscher,  John  Johnson,"  etc. 

In  accidents  where  a  list  of  the  killed  or  injured,  or 
both,  is  given,  run  each  name  with  the  injury,  etc.,  in  a 
separate  paragraph,  after  a  short  introduction  to  the  list, 
and  always  give  the  surname  first,  in  alphabetical  order. 
Separate  the  list  of  the  fatalities  from  that  of  the  injured. 
Example : 

The  names  of  those  killed  are  given  below: 

FRIES,  JACOB,  engineer,  Ottawa,  111. 

MURRAY,  JOHN  L.,  fireman,  Peru,  111. 

The  names  of  the  injured  follow : 

DEN  HART,  JACOB,  St.  Louis,  right  leg  crushed. 

FITZPATRICK,  BARNEY,  Moline,  111.,  spine  bruised; 
internal  injuries. 

HERMAN,  JACOB,  Chicago,  severely  bruised  and  right 
arm  broken. 

JOHNSON,  WILLIAM,  Macomb,  111.,  fractured  skull  and 
internal  injuries;  will  die. 

Don't  try  to  write  a  column  on  one  page  of  copy 
paper.  Leave  an  inch  at  the  top  and  bottom  of  each 
page  and  a  margin  on  the  left-hand  side  of  three-quar- 
ters of  an  inch.  Leave  at  least  one-eighth  of  an  inch  be- 
tween the  lines. 

Don't  be  careless  about  proper  names.  Be  sure  you 
have  them  right  and  then  go  ahead  plainly.  If  the  name 
is  at  all  unusual,  go  back  to  your  school-boy  days  and 
"  print "  it. 

Don't  neglect,  when  time  permits,  to  read  your  copy 
before  handing  it  in.  And  don't  forget  to  look  at  it  in 
print. 

Don't  forget  to  folio  your  pages. 

Don't  mix  your  tenses.  In  quoting  a  speaker  use 
present  tense  with  quotation  marks ;  in  giving  a  "  third 
person"  report  use  the  past  tense  without  quotation 
marks. 

Don't  say  "the  above";  if  necessary,  use  "the  fore- 
going." 

J8o 


A   CHAPTER   ON    ERRORS 

Don't  use  "party"  for  man,  woman  or  person.  In 
court  matter  "party"  is  allowable. 

Don't  forget  that  one  "  stick  "  is  160  words,  and  that 
one  column  is  1,440  words,  unless  otherwise  specified. 

Don't  confound  "  amateur  "  with  "  novice."  An  ama- 
teur may  be  the  equal  of  the  professional  in  experience 
and  skill;  a  novice  is  a  beginner. 

Don't  use  "audience"  for  anything  but  an  assembly 
of  hearers.  Spectators  are  present  at  a  pantomime  or  a 
prize  fight. 

Don't  try  to  divide  an  apple  "  between  "  more  than  two 
friends ;  you  may  divide  it  "  among "  as  many  as  you 
choose. 

Don't  say  "  the  marriage  was  consummated "  if  you 
mean  that  "  the  ceremony  was  performed." 

Don't  say  "  don't "  when  you  mean  "  doesn't." 

Don't  announce  that  Mrs.  Smith  will  give  a  luncheon 
"  during  "  the  week,  unless  she  intends  to  feed  guests  for 
the  next  seven  days. 

Don't  say  "  gents'  "  furnishing  store.  "  Gents  "  wear 
w  pants  "  and  eat  "  lunches  "  and  "  open  "  wine. 

Don't  say  "  Miss  Huntington  was  given  a  dinner,"  or 
that  a  dinner  was  given  "  in  honor  of  Miss  Huntington." 
Say,  "  A  dinner  was  given  to  (or  for)  Miss  Huntington." 

Don't  say  "  per  day  "  or  "  per  year,"  but  "  a  day  "  or 
"  per  diem,"  and  "  a  year  "  or  "  per  annum." 

Don't  say  "  section  "  for  "  region."  A  section  is  a  defi- 
nite division  of  space. 

Don't  fail  to  discriminate  between  "  state  "  and  "  say." 
To  state  means  to  make  known  specifically  or  to  explain 
particularly. 

Don't  use  "  suicide  "  as  a  verb.  A  man  no  more  "  sui- 
cides "  than  he  "  arsons  "  or  "  mayhems." 

Don't  "  try  and  "  write  correctly,  but  "  try  to  "  write 
correctly. 

Don't  say  "tilt.,"  "  inst.,"  or  "prox.,"  when  you  can 
avoid  it.  Say  last  month,  this  month,  and  next  month. 

Don't  forget  that  "  death  is  the  wages  of  sin,"  and  that 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

"the  wages  of  sin  are  death."  Verbs  agree  in  number 
with  their  subjects  and  not  with  their  predicates. 

Don't  use  long  and  involved  sentences.  Three  short 
ones  are  better  than  one  long  one. 

Don't  use  "  some  "  for  "  several  " — e.  g.,  "  some  years 
ago." 

Don't  say  "since"  when  you  mean  "ago" — e.  g., 
"some  time  since"  (ago). 

Don't  say  "propose"  for  "purpose";  the  one  means 
to  make  an  offer,  the  other  to  intend. 

Don't  say  "  the  funeral  of  the  late  Mr.  Frankenstein  " ; 
it  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  man  is  dead. 

Don't  spell  forward,  backward,  homeward,  afterward, 
downward,  toward,  earthward,  and  heavenward,  with  a 
final  "  s." 

Don't  say  "the  three  first,"  or  "the  three  second"; 
instead,  say  *  the  first  three,"  or  "  the  second  three." 

Don't  forget  that  "either—or"  and  "  neither— nor  " 
take  the  singular  verb. 

Don't  say  "  differ  with "  a  man,  unless  you  wish  to 
say  that  one  man  differs  with  another  from  a  third  man. 

Don't  say,  "  she  looks  prettily,"  unless  you  mean  to 
describe  her  manner  of  gazing.  Verbs  of  doing  take  the 
adverb;  verbs  of  seeming  and  being,  the  adjective — e.  g., 
"  she  walks  slowly,"  "  her  face  feels  rough." 

Don't  forget  the  importance  of  writing  legibly.  By 
writing  illegibly  you  cause  annoyance  to  every  one  from 
editor  to  proof-reader,  and  do  yourself  an  injury. 

Don't  use  "  as  though  "  for  "  as  if."  You  can  say,  "  he 
walks  as  (he  would  walk)  if  he  were  lame,"  but  not  "  he 
walks  as  (he  would  walk)  though  he  were  lame." 

Don't  use  "  very  "  when  the  sentence  means  the  same 
without  it,  as  it  does  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred. 

The  new  reporter  should  read  every  line  of  his 
own  matter  after  it  appears  in  print,  noting  carefully 
each  change  that  has  been  made  from  the  copy  as  he 
wrote  it.  He  will  see  then  where  he  failed  to  be  clear, 

182 


A   CHAPTER   ON   ERRORS 

where  he  was  wordy,  and  where  he  violated  a  rule  of 
the  paper's  style  or  used  a  wrong  word.  Especially 
should  he  notice  where  his  story  has  been  condensed. 
After  a  while  he  will  learn  just  what  his  editor  does 
not  want,  and  that  is  a  great  step  in  advance.  Some 
reporters  never  learn  what  to  leave  out.  A  careful 
study  of  the  best  newspapers  will  aid  in  learning  how 
facts  can  be  plainly  yet  readably  expressed.  The 
best  writers  are  careful  not  to  use  too  many  adjectives, 
and  they  usually  make  their  sentences  short,  crisp, 
and  to  the  point.  Most  of  the  faults  of  verbosity  will 
be  avoided  instinctively  after  the  beginner  once  real- 
izes that  facts,  not  words,  are  wanted — that  people 
read  a  newspaper  not  so  much  for  the  sake  of  passing 
time  as  for  the  purpose  of  finding  out  what  is  going  on 
in  the  world. 


183 


XIII 

WRITING  ADVERTISEMENTS 

WITHIN  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  the  writing 
of  advertisements,  or  "  ad  writing,"  as  it  is  called,  has 
become  a  distinct  vocation,  and  it  is  now  one  of  the 
most  lucrative  of  professions  for  the  skilled  expert. 
A  master  of  the  art  of  writing  ads  can  often  command 
an  income  larger  than  that  of  a  cabinet  minister  at 
Washington.  The  specialists  who  do  this  kind  of 
work  are  business  men  rather  than  newspaper  men, 
and  their  work  does  not  strictly  come  within  the  scope 
of  the  present  treatise;  but  in  most  cases  they  are 
graduates  from  the  newspaper  office,  and  it  is  well 
for  every  reporter  to  know  the  possibilities  in  this 
direction.  The  subject  of  ad  writing  methods  is  pre- 
sented here,  however,  mainly  with  a  hope  that  it  may 
prove  helpful  to  country  editors,  advertising  solicitors, 
and  others  who  are  called  upon  frequently  to  write 
advertisements. 

The  modern  department  store  advertisement  had 
its  beginning  twenty-odd  years  ago,  when  John  Wana- 
maker  started  a  column  of  chatty  discussions  of  the 
bargains  he  had  to  offer,  printing  it  in  each  of  the 
daily  papers  of  his  city.  He  employed  one  of  the 
brightest  editors  of  a  leading  journal  to  get  up  these 
ads  in  a  newsy  and  attractive  style.  The  matter  was 
invariably  printed  in  large  clear  type,  beginning  with 
the  weather  prediction  for  the  day,  and  calling  atten- 

184 


WRITING   ADVERTISEMENTS 

tion  to  bargains  suited  to  the  weather.  The  articles 
were  so  simple,  breezy,  and  attractive  that  many  peo- 
ple read  them  merely  because  they  were  interesting, 
and  the  Wanamaker  enterprise  began  to  grow  under 
the  new  stimulus.  It  was  not  long  before  this  pioneer 
ad  writer  was  receiving  $10,000  a  year.  The  original 
column  was  expanded  to  two,  one  of  which  was  de- 
voted to  a  schedule  of  prices.  Other  merchants  fol- 
lowed suit,  gradually  enlarging  their  space  until  full- 
page  advertisements  have  now  become  every-day 
matters  with  all  the  leading  merchants  in  the  larger 
cities.  The  men  who  write  these  ads  receive  better 
salaries  than  the  average  reporter  or  copy  reader,  and 
some  of  them  attain  to  positions  that  might  well  be 
the  envy  of  almost  any  managing  editor. 

The  chief  ad  writer  in  every  large  store  has,  a 
regularly  organized  bureau  to  assist  him.  The  heads 
of  the  different  departments  furnish  him  with  a  list  of 
bargains,  which  he  classifies  and  "  features,"  intro- 
ducing the  whole  with  the  reading  matter  at  the  top, 
which  is  an  evolution  from  the  original  one-column 
Wanamaker  ad.  The  work  requires  a  good  knowl- 
edge of  business  and  a  technical  knowledge  of  the 
particular  lines  of  merchandise  handled.  It  also  re- 
quires a  practical  familiarity  with  printing  methods 
and  with  the  leading  faces  of  display  type.  The  wri- 
ting of  "  reading  notices/'  or  ads  that  are  set  in  the 
form  of  ordinary  reading  matter,  is  a  simpler  and  yet 
fairly  profitable  occupation. 

Among  the  chief  secrets  of  success  in  ad  writing 
are  the  knack  of  condensation  and  the  faculty  of 
attracting  attention.  Advertising  space  is  costly,  and 
it  is  necessary  to  say  as  much  in  as  few  words  as  pos- 
sible. Good  newspaper  men  know  how  to  do  this, 
and  for  that  reason  they  have  the  best  chance  to  be- 

185 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

come  successful  ad  writers.  The  attracting  of  the 
reader's  attention  should  be  accomplished  by  legiti- 
mate and  not  by  violent  means.  It  does  not  pay  to 
hit  a  man  over  the  head  with  a  club  to  attract  his 
attention  to  a  bargain  in  hats.  The  use  of  larger  type 
than  is  necessary  to  make  the  ad  noticeable  and  attract- 
ive is  worse  than  useless.  An  advertisement  should 
be  interesting  and  convincing  rather  than  startling. 
Something  should  be  told  about  the  article  advertised. 
It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  you  sell  belts.  Tell  what 
kind  you  sell,  and  give  their  points  of  superiority. 
Make  the  talk  plain  and  interesting,  and  it  will  be 
read.  Make  it  interesting  and  convincing,  and  it  will 
sell  goods.  Concise,  attractive,  simple,  interesting, 
and  convincing — these  words  indicate  the  qualities 
that  command  success  in  an  advertisement.  The  man 
or  woman  who  has  learned  to  write  that  kind  of  ads 
can  make  a  good  living  in  any  business  community. 
The  country  newspaper  publisher  who  masters  this 
art  doubles  his  chances  of  success. 

An  advertisement  is  simply  business  news.  Its 
object  is  not  to  divert,  or  to  amuse,  or  to  startle,  but 
to  inform.  It  is  to  tell  the  customer  something  he 
will  be  interested  in  knowing  in  regard  to  certain 
goods  which  the  merchant  has  for  sale.  The  first 
American  advertisements  could  not  be  distinguished 
from  ordinary  reading  matter.  They  were  printed  in 
the  same  type  as  the  news,  and  were  treated  the  same 
as  any  other  matter  of  interest  to  the  public.  The 
best  advertising  to-day  embodies  the  same  idea, 
though  it  may  be  set  in  display  type  to  attract  the 
eye.  The  big  type  is  useless  if  it  tells  the  reader  noth- 
ing new  or  interesting.  The  moss-grown  standing  ads 
in  the  columns  of  many  country  papers  are  sad  exam- 
ples of  this  fact.  They  are  survivals  of  the  medieval 

186 


WRITING   ADVERTISEMENTS 

period  of  American  journalism,  when  merchants  gave 
ads  grudgingly  to  the  local  paper  as  a  dole  of  charity, 
expecting  little  or  no  return  for  the  outlay. 

It  requires  a  good  knowledge  of  human  nature  to 
be  a  successful  ad  writer.  The  human  animal  is  so 
constituted  tjiat  he  feels  a  keener  interest  in  some- 
thing that  promises  benefit  to  himself  than  in  some- 
thing that  will  benefit  another  person.  Mark  how 
this  applies  to  advertising.  The  inexperienced  mer- 
chant, eager  to  sell,  calls  aloud  to  the  public  to  "  buy, 
buy,  buy."  The  main  thought  of  all  his  ads  is  his 
own  desire  for  profit.  Now,  the  people  are  only 
mildly  interested  in  the  merchant's  success  or  failure, 
while  they  are  deeply  interested  in  having  their  own 
wants  supplied  at  reasonable  prices.  Hence  the 
skilled  ad  writer  wastes  no  space  in  urging  people 
to  buy.  He  uses  it  all  in  appealing  artfully  yet  frankly 
to  their  self-interest  by  telling  them  about  sundry 
ways  in  which  they  can  benefit  themselves  and  get 
good  values  for  their  money. 

The  successful  writer  of  advertising  copy  always 
puts  himself  in  the  place  of  the  purchaser.  He  takes 
into  account  the  points  that  would  appeal  to  the 
ordinary  man  or  woman  if  asked  to  buy  the  article 
in  question.  You  may  safely  presume  that  the  vast 
majority  of  buyers  are  not  a  whit  different  from  your- 
self when  it  comes  to  making  purchases.  The  ads, 
to  have  the  pulling  power  that  brings  profit,  must  be 
written  from  the  view-point  of  the  business  they  are 
meant  to  advertise,  but  must  appeal  directly  to  the 
self-interest  of  the  people  who  are  available  as  possi- 
ble customers.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that 
definite  knowledge  of  the  class  of  people  addressed 
is  only  less  important  than  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
goods  to  be  advertised.  Nor  should  it  be  necessary 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

to  remind  any  intelligent  person  that  deception  never 
pays  in  advertising. 

Every  advertisement  should  represent  the  best 
values  the  firm  has  to  offer,  and  should  set  forth  the 
goods  in  their  most  attractive  form.  A  great  deal  of 
advertising  fails  because  it  is  not  prepared  with  a  pur- 
pose. The  person  who  wrote  it  had  no  definite  ob- 
ject in  view.  The  aim  should  be  to  bring  together 
certain  goods  and  a  certain  class  of  buyers,  and  both 
the  merchandise  and  the  people  should  be  clearly  in 
the  ad  writer's  mind.  Each  announcement  should  be 
a  separate  argument  or  item  of  information  calculated 
to  convince  these  people  that  they  can  benefit  them- 
selves by  purchasing.  The  merchant  who  advertises 
merely  to  fill  space  is  like  the  man  who  talks  merely  to 
kill  time.  His  words  bore  people  and  accomplish 
nothing. 

The  public  has  a  short  memory  and  will  promptly 
forget  what  was  said  the  day  before  yesterday.  Hence 
the  advertiser  must  say  it  again  and  keep  on  saying. 
He  must  be  "  never  weary  in  well-doing."  As  Charles 
Austin  Bates  says,  a  business  will  not  prosper  with- 
out advertising  any  more  than  the  old-fashioned  mill- 
wheel  will  run  without  water.  "  Keep  it  before  the 
people  "  is  a  golden  motto  for  the  man  who  has  some- 
thing to  sell.  The  mistake  should  not  be  made,  how- 
ever, of  keeping  the  same  advertisement  before  the 
public  too  long.  When  an  ad  becomes  familiar  it 
ceases  to  attract  the  eye  and  should  be  put  into  a 
new  form. 

The  ad  writer,  like  the  reporter,  is  an  "  imperson- 
ality." He  can  not  intrude  his  own  individuality  be- 
tween seller  and  buyer  without  injuring  his  work. 
His  task  is  to  make  two  purchasers  grow  where  only 
one  grew  before,  and  for  this  reason  his  main  thought 

1 88 


WRITING   ADVERTISEMENTS 

should  be  of  the  buyer  and  not  of  the  seller.  He 
should  approach  his  subject  with  "  a  real  inspiration 
of  ignorance  " — the  attitude  of  the  reader  of  the  ad. 
He  should  ask  himself,  "  What  would  I  like  to  know 
about  this  article  if  my  attention  had  been  attracted 
to  it  for  the  first  time  by  this  advertisement  ?  "  The 
more  nearly  his  ad  comes  to  being  an  answer  to  this 
question  the  more  likely  it  will  be  to  serve  its  pur- 
pose well.  The  practical  test  of  its  value  is  the  num- 
ber of  people  it  brings  to  the  store  or  the  orders  it 
brings  by  mail. 

To  attain  the  highest  success  as  an  expert  ad 
writer  one  must  have  certain  natural  qualifications, 
foremost  among  which  are  originality  and  ingenuity. 
But  the  ordinary  qualifications  for  newspaper  writing 
are  often  sufficient  to  procure  incomes  in  this  line  far 
in  excess  of  what  the  same  person  could  earn  as  a 
reporter.  It  is  worth  while  for  every  newspaper  man 
to  give  some  thought  to  this  new  branch  of  work,  for 
it  often  affords  a  safe  haven  when  the  inevitable  storms 
in  newspaperdom  have  driven  him  from  his  moorings. 
It  is  a  harbor  into  which  women  with  a  ready  pen  also 
may  sometimes  steer  with  happy  results,  provided 
they  happen  to  have  a  good  knowledge  of  business. 
The  wealth  of  the  nation  is  in  business  circles,  and 
the  commercial  houses  that  are  looking  for  ad  writers 
with  good  ideas  are  more  numerous  than  the  news- 
papers that  are  seeking  reporters,  while  the  number 
of  applicants  is  as  yet  comparatively  few. 

A  young  woman  who  has  become  a  successful 
bread-winner  as  an  ad  writer  states  her  experience  in 
these  words : 

"  Although  I  made  endless  mistakes  and  met  many 
serious  rebuffs,  I  soon  realized  the  truth  of  my  friend's 
assertion  that  money  could  be  made  in  the  business 
14  189 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

world.  Whereas  every  editor  of  whom  I  had  any 
experience  had  been  personally  sympathetic  and  yet 
sorry  to  see  me  and  glad  to  get  rid  of  me,  every 
business  man  I  have  ever  approached  has  looked  upon 
me  as  a  possibly  profitable  vehicle,  has  never  dreamed 
of  offering  me  sympathy,  and  has  been  able  and 
willing  to  pay  liberally  for  any  work  I  undertook  and 
thoroughly  accomplished." 

Fifty  years  ago  newspaper  advertising  was  regard- 
ed as  a  luxury  or  a  charity.  To-day  it  is  a  recognized 
necessity  of  trade,  while  the  writing  of  ads  is  a  busi- 
ness in  itself,  having  its  experts  and  specialists.  It 
is  a  new  profession,  undergoing  improvement  con- 
stantly in  matter  and  manner,  and  one  which  is  sure 
to  fill  a  far  more  important  place  in  the  coming  years 
than  it  has  in  the  past.  It  is  at  once  an  art  and  a 
science  founded  on  psychological  principles.  The 
man  who  knows  his  fellow  men  best  is  most  likely  to 
succeed  in  it.  From  every  point  of  view  it  is  a  profes- 
sion deserving  the  serious  consideration  of  persons 
who  are  handy  with  the  pen. 


190 


XIV 

FILLING  THE  "AD"  COLUMNS 

[This  chapter  was  written  by  Mr.  R.  Roy  S human,  who  speaks 
from  years  of  experience  both  as  a  newspaper  man  and  as  an 
advertising  expert.] 

IN  the  end  the  advertising  columns  are  what  de- 
cide the  fate  of  a  newspaper.  Advertisements  now 
produce  considerably  more  than  one-half  the  income 
of  American  newspaper  publishers.  Subscriptions 
will  pay  for  postage  and  ink,  and  perhaps  for  the 
white  paper,  but  the  ads  must  furnish  the  money  to 
pay  the  salaries  and  keep  the  plant  running.  A  good 
advertising  patronage,  of  course,  can  be  held  only  by 
means  of  a  good  circulation,  and  this  comes  only  by 
making  a  paper  that  people  wish  to  read.  But  when 
ads  are  properly  written  and  displayed  they  of  them- 
selves help  to  increase  the  circulation  and  raise  the 
prestige  of  the  paper. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  public  has  learned  to 
take  an  interest  in  the  advertising  columns,  and  reads 
them,  if  they  be  worth  reading,  whether  in  need  of 
the  wares  described  or  not.  It  is  important,  therefore, 
to  get  a  right  start  in  this  matter,  especially  as  the 
advertisers  in  a  town  are  likely  to  be  more  or  less 
blind  players  of  the  game  of  "  follow  the  leader."  In 
other  words,  "  To  him  who  hath  ads,  ads  shall  be 
given :  and  from  him  who  hath  not,  even  those  ads 
which  he  hath  shall  be  taken  away."  With  the  loss 

191 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

of  advertising  there  comes  a  corresponding  loss  of 
prestige  and  interest  in  the  eyes  of  the  readers. 

Perhaps  the  best  methods  of  securing  advertising 
patronage  can  be  stated  most  clearly  by  taking  the 
case  of  a  man  who  is  about  to  establish  a  new  daily  in 
a  community  which  he  believes  is  able  to  support 
such  an  enterprise.  The  advertising  situation  should 
be  canvassed  with  the  utmost  care.  There  must  be 
a  sufficient  population,  with  enough  wealth  to  buy  not 
only  your  paper  but  also  the  goods  of  your  adver- 
tisers. There  also  must  be  a  sufficient  number  of 
merchants,  with  enough  capital  to  purchase,  advertise, 
and  sell  the  goods  which  your  subscribers  will  wish 
to  buy. 

Before  printing  the  first  issue  of  your  paper  you 
should  make  arrangements  with  the  leading  merchant 
in  each  line  to  push  his  goods  in  your  columns.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  bother  with  the  smaller  dealers  at 
first.  Get  the  leaders.  The  others  will  follow.  One 
good  way  to  get  the  support  of  the  men  who  set  the 
business  pace  in  your  town  is  to  incorporate  the  news- 
paper and  sell  or  give  to  each  leading  merchant  a 
sufficient  amount  of  stock  to  make  him  financially 
interested,  while,  of  course,  retaining  the  controlling 
interest  yourself. 

If  you  are  not  an  "  ad  writer "  yourself,  employ 
a  bright  young  man  or  woman  who  shows  taste  and 
talent  in  that  line,  and  make  advertising  easy  for 
those  of  your  patrons  who  wish  to  be  relieved  of  the 
drudgery  of  preparing  the  copy.  Use  every  endeavor 
to  induce  your  patrons  to  change  their  ads  in  every 
issue  and  to  advertise  up-to-date  merchandise.  Your 
advertising  solicitors  should  be  given  to  understand 
that  their  first  duty  is  to  make  trade  and  money  for 
the  advertiser.  They  are  not  simply  to  go  on  a  beg- 

192 


FILLING   THE   "AD"    COLUMNS 

ging  expedition  from  store  to  store,  importuning  mer- 
chants to  advertise  and  support  a  worthy  local  enter- 
prise. Their  business  is  to  suggest  schemes  to  the 
merchant  by  which  he  can  draw  a  crowd — to  get  him 
to  advertise  the  right  thing  at  the  right  time — to  help 
him  make  business  for  himself  through  the  medium 
of  the  newspaper.  A  well-matured  plan,  if  properly 
presented,  usually  will  appeal  to  the  merchant's  love 
of  publicity  and  desire  for  profit.  If  the  scheme  has 
any  merit  it  will  justify  itself  and  make  the  mer- 
chant a  permanent  patron  of  the  paper's  advertising 
columns. 

An  expensive  but  profitable  idea  is  to  have  an 
artist  at  the  service  of  the  advertising  department,  who 
can  sketch  in  pencil  or  ink  a  suitable  illustration  for 
every  "  feature  "  advertisement.  With  a  draft  of  a 
good  ad  illustrated  in  this  way  it  is  comparatively 
easy  to  interest  a  merchant  in  it  and  get  him  to  try 
its  effect  in  the  paper.  The  pictures  attract  readers 
and  buyers  just  as  they  caught  the  advertising  patron- 
age of  the  merchant. 

Keep  ahead  of  the  seasons.  Suppose  it  to  be 
October  and  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  Pre- 
pare for  Dash  &  Snow,  makers  of  sleighs,  a  medley 
of  popular  sleighing  songs,  with  their  name  and  claim 
cleverly  worked  into  the  verses.  Have  an  artist  sketch 
suitable  illustrations — humorous  if  possible — and  on 
the  first  cold  day  go  to  Messrs.  D.  &  S.  with  the 
whole  scheme  well  in  hand.  If  they  have  any  enter- 
prise and  business  judgment  they  will  contract  for  at 
least  ten  "  hundred-line  "  ads  of  the  series,  one  to  be 
run  each  day  that  snow  falls.  If  they  have  not  the 
wisdom  to  avail  themselves  of  your  brains,  go  the 
rounds  and  get  some  competing  firm  to  adopt  the 
plan.  When  the  advertisements  are  published  and 

193 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

attract  wide-spread  attention,  you  have  converted  not 
only  the  man  who  adopted  them  but  also  those  who 
were  too  short-sighted  to  do  so. 

Cold  weather  comes  on.  What  do  people  buy  in 
cold  weather?  Coal,  blankets,  furs,  woolens,  mittens, 
lined  boots  and  shoes,  weather  strips,  snow  shovels, 
children's  sleds,  skates,  overcoats,  mufflers,  and  a  hun- 
dred other  things.  Go  to  the  right  men  or  firms  with 
a  well-matured  plan  for  creating  a  run  on  each  of 
these  seasonable  articles.  Keep  up  this  policy 
throughout  the  year,  and  you  will  have  most  of  the 
men  and  women  in  your  town  buying  your  paper 
when  they  wish  to  look  for  bargains. 

Part  of  the  secret  of  success  lies  in  impressing 
your  advertisers  with  the  necessity  of  offering  only 
fresh  and  seasonable  merchandise,  and  of  offering  it, 
whenever  possible,  at  a  slight  reduction  in  price.  The 
large  department  stores  of  New  York  and  Chicago 
rarely  advertise  anything  at  its  regular  market  price. 
They  advertise  real  "  bargains "  to  attract  crowds, 
leaving  the  salesmanship  of  their  clerks  to  take  care 
of  standard  goods  at  standard  prices.  I  know  a  small 
grocer  who  soon  became  a  large  one  by  advertising 
a  daily  bargain  bulletin  in  only  one  newspaper.  The 
things  he  advertised  were  actual  bargains — standard 
goods  of  known  quality  and  merit  at  less  than  usual 
prices.  One  day  his  "  leader "  would  be  soaps  and 
canned  goods ;  the  next,  vegetables  and  fruits ;  and 
the  next,  small  miscellaneous  articles.  Probably  he 
made  little  or  no  money  on  the  advertised  goods,  but 
he  got  the  trade  of  nearly  one-half  the  families  in  his 
town  in  spite  of  the  competition  of  a  dozen  other 
grocers  who  were  content  to  jog  along  in  the  old 
way.  His  advertising  bill  amounted  to  $20  a  day, 
six  days  in  the  week,  and  his  advertisement  always 

194 


FILLING   THE   "AD"   COLUMNS 

occupied  100  lines,  double  column,  at  the  top  of  the 
third  page.  Probably  several  hundred  women  took 
that  paper  daily  because  of  that  one  advertisement, 
and  hundreds  of  others  made  it  a  point  to  read  the 
"  ad  "  or  perhaps  to  cut  it  out  before  their  husbands 
carried  the  paper  down  town. 

The  newspaper  that  makes  its  advertisements 
bring  results  can  get  double  the  rates  secured  by 
papers  that  are  content  to  print  homely  and  useless 
"  business  cards  "  in  their  columns.  Rates  really  are 
a  secondary  consideration.  If  you  bring  a  larger  per- 
centage of  profit  to  the  advertiser  than  he  can  secure 
through  other  methods  he  will  pay  your  rate,  no 
matter  what  it  is.  The  metropolitan  dailies  are  satis- 
fied with  one-fourth  or  one-third  of  a  cent  per  agate 
line  for  every  thousand  of  circulation  when  they  are 
dealing  with  the  large  stores  that  take  from  50,000  to 
250,000  lines  a  year.  They  get  about  double  these 
rates  from  the  casual  advertiser.  But  the  small  daily 
with  a  circulation  of  5,000  or  10,000  must  charge  a 
higher  rate  in  order  to  live;  and  it  is  entitled  to  a 
higher  rate,  for  a  larger  percentage  of  its  readers 
are  possible  customers  of  each  of  its  advertisers.  It 
is  important  that  your  rates  should  be  well  under- 
stood, and  that  each  advertiser  should  feel  sure  of  get- 
ting the  same  rate  on  the  same  amount  of  matter  that 
any  of  his  rivals  can  get.  No  advertiser  should  feel 
compelled  to  "  go  in  "  when  he  prefers  to  stay  out. 
Make  a  contract  for  a  certain  minimum  number  of 
lines  per  annum  and  let  him  take  the  space  when  he 
wishes  it. 

Encourage  your  dry-goods  advertisers  to  "fea- 
ture "  certain  days  in  the  week.  "  Bargain  Monday  " 
in  Chicago,  the  day  when  as  many  purchases  are 
made  as  on  any  other  two,  was  instituted  by  the  news- 

195 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

papers.  "  Basement  bargains "  on  Fridays  are  the 
result  of  a  deliberate  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  papers 
to  fill  up  a  distressing  blank  on  that  day.  Saturday 
takes  care  of  itself  with  all  merchants  who  have  any- 
thing to  sell  for  men  and  children ;  also  with  all  who 
cater  to  a  rural  population.  Encourage  quarterly, 
semiannual,  and  annual  "  sales "  in  given  lines  for 
such  merchants  as  can  make  use  of  them.  There 
is  no  particular  reason  why  January  should  be  the 
"  linen  and  white  goods  "  month  with  all  the  large  dry- 
goods  stores,  except  that  it  is  naturally  a  slow  month 
and  something  had  to  be  done  to  quicken  it.  "  In- 
ventory sales,"  "  clearing  sales,"  "  remnant  sales/' 
"  odds-and-ends  sales,"  and  the  like  are  also  a  fruit- 
ful source  of  income  to  both  newspapers  and  mer- 
chants. They  can  be  used  to  advantage  in  almost 
every  line  of  merchandise,  but  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten  the  resourceful  advertising  manager  or  solicitor 
is  the  one  who  must  start  the  ball  rolling. 

Encourage  each  of  your  larger  patrons  to  keep  a 
scrap-book  of  his  advertisements,  entering  opposite 
each  "  ad "  the  sales  on  that  day  and  a  record  of 
the  temperature  and  condition  of  the  weather.  On 
your  own  behalf  make  a  careful  study  of  the  adver- 
tising done  in  the  past  in  your  own  and  rival  papers, 
and  have  a  new  idea  ready  for  each  coming  mercan- 
tile "  event." 

In  most  of  the  larger  and  better  dailies  no  adver- 
tising matter  is  permitted  on  the  front  page ;  nor  need 
it  be.  It  disfigures  the  paper  and  to  some  extent  in- 
jures its  prestige.  Admit  one  patron's  "  ads  "  on  the 
front  page,  and  immediately  others  will  insist  on  "  first 
page  or  nothing."  After  the  front  page  the  next  pre- 
ferred position  is  on  the  back  page,  because  the  reader 
naturally  turns  the  paper  over  before  opening  it.  In 

196 


FILLING   THE    "AD"    COLUMNS 

P  order  to  keep  peace  among  the  large  advertisers  the 
Chicago  dailies  have  adopted  the  plan  of  giving  each 
one  exactly  as  many  back  pages  in  a  month  as  any 
other,  keeping  a  careful  record  and  giving  each  of  the 
solicitors  a  copy  of  it. 

It  is  important  that  your  paper  should  have  a  full 
equipment  of  all  the  best  faces  of  job  type.  It  always 
pleases  an  advertiser  to  give  him  a  distinct  type  for 
display.  It  will  cost  no  more  to  have  a  different  type 
for  each  of  your  six  leading  patrons  than  to  give  each 
a  hodge-podge  of  six  faces  in  the  same  advertisement ; 
and  the  effect  will  be  at  once  dignified  and  striking. 

This  opens  up  the  important  subject  of  advertising 
display.  The  advertiser  who  runs  a  circus-bill  type 
clear  across  the  top  of  a  shallow  advertisement,  full- 
page  width,  spoils  your  paper  and  hurts  himself  at  the 
same  time.  It  would  be  well  to  adopt  a  schedule  for- 
bidding the  advertiser  to  break  a  column-rule  for  an 
advertisement  less  than  50  lines,  or  say  four  inches 
deep ;  two  column-rules  for  less  than  100  lines,  three 
for  less  than  150  lines,  and  so  on,  giving  the  full  six 
or  seven  column  width  only  on  condition  that  the  ad 
shall  be  half  a  page  in  depth.  This  will  bar  out  the 
man  who  desires  to  run  a  single  display  line  across 
the  top  and  bottom  of  your  page. 

There  are  two  ways — a  wrong  and  a  right  way — 
of  displaying  any  advertisement.  It  is  easy  to  imagine 
one  and  the  same  announcement  printed  in  two  utterly 
different  styles.  The  first — the  "  horrible  example/' 
or  how  not  to  do  it — is  displayed  in  the  way  the 
advertiser  probably  would  have  done  it  before  he 
learned  his  business.  It  is  set  in  a  dozen  discordant 
type-faces,  is  full  of  exclamation  points  and  yelling 
capitals,  and  is  the  general  embodiment  of  a  war- 
whpop  in  print.  The  second  is  dignified,  tasteful, 

197 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

attractive,  convincing — the  printed  embodiment  of 
the  way  the  merchant  would  tell  the  story  to  an  intel- 
ligent customer.  Such  a  display  invites  reading,  while 
the  other  repels.  Successful  advertising  is  nothing 
more  than  plain,  easy,  attractive  reading  matter — 
simple  and  tempting  to  the  eye  as  a  child's  primer. 

This  brings  us  to  the  delicate  subject  of  the  adver- 
tiser who  is  inclined  to  shout  and  exaggerate  and 
prevaricate  in  print.  Personally  he  may  be  a  model 
of  courteous  propriety  and  truthfulness,  yet  when  he 
takes  up  a  blue  pencil  and  a  piece  of  wrapping  paper 
to  prepare  an  advertisement  he  becomes  hysterical, 
illogical,  abusive,  bombastic,  and  unreliable  in  his 
statements.  If  he  could  remember  that  the  purpose 
of  an  advertisement  is  merely  to  tell  five  thousand 
people  quickly  what  he  would  tell  any  one  of  them 
personally,  he  would  seek  to  talk  as  courteously  and 
accurately  in  print  as  he  does  in  his  personal  conver- 
sations with  customers.  This  type  of  merchant  is  a 
hard  one  for  the  newspaper  publisher  to  deal  with, 
but  he  can  be  managed  in  a  quiet  way,  especially  if 
you  can  get  him  to  permit  you  to  write  his  adver- 
tisements. 

The  heart-to-heart  style  of  advertising  is  what 
built  up  Mr.  Wanamaker's  two  great  stores.  His  ads 
invite  confidence  in  his  merchandise  by  talking  rea- 
sonably and  frankly.  He  is  too  deeply  interested  in 
telling  the  public  about  his  goods  to  waste  words  in 
protestations  of  his  own  honesty,  his  own  greatness, 
or  the  shortcomings  of  his  competitors.  An  adver- 
tisement is  a  printed  and  signed  promise  to  do  as 
that  advertisement  says  the  merchant  will  do.  A  lie 
in  display  type  is  as  much  a  lie  as  one  told  over  the 
counter  or  in  a  business  letter.  The  merchant  may 
assert  that  it  is  none  of  the  publisher's  business 

198 


FILLING  THE   "AD"   COLUMNS 

whether  his  advertisements  be  truthful  or  not.  In 
this  he  is  wrong,  for  a  disappointed  or  defrauded  pur- 
chaser associates  the  advertisement  with  the  paper  in 
which  he  read  it. 

The  tin-horn,  swashbuckler  advertisement  may  sell 
goods  sometimes,  but  in  the  long  run  it  cheapens  the 
establishment  that  persists  in  its  use,  and  drives  away 
the  better  element  of  trade.  A  newspaper  publisher 
helps  both  himself  and  his  advertisers  when  he  uses 
all  his  diplomacy  to  dissuade  them  from  committing 
this  too  frequent  blunder. 

Another  mistake  into  which  inexperienced  adver- 
tisers fall  is  that  of  smart  word- juggling.  This  kind 
of  advertising  will  not  sell  goods.  It  fails  inevitably, 
because  it  lacks  sincerity,  which  is  the  soul  of  sales- 
manship. The  "Don't  Read  This"  man,  the  man 
who  prefaces  a  jewelry  ad  with  a  picture  of  a  pig, 
the  shoe  dealer  who  inscribes  "  MURDER  "  in  large 
capitals  over  his  advertisement,  the  man  who  uses 
high-sounding  and  flamboyant  language — these  and 
all  their  ilk  are  wasting  space  and  preparing  the  way 
for  the  assertion  that  "  advertising  does  not  pay." 
Convert  them  if  you  can.  If  not,  avoid  them,  for 
their  failure  to  get  results  in  your  paper  will  be  pro- 
claimed from  the  housetops. 

Give  every  preference  to  local  advertisers.  Don't 
be  persuaded  by  a  "  check  in  advance  "  to  sell  your 
best  space  to  agency  advertisers  at  a  fraction  of  its 
value.  If  the  agencies  want  a  preferred  position  they 
should  pay  more  for  it  than  you  charge  your  local 
dealers,  for  it  is  the  latter  who  support  you,  and  they 
deserve  the  best  you  have.  The  success  of  a  local  ad- 
vertisement means  a  better  contract  next  season,  while 
the  baking  powder  or  patent  medicine  man,  whose 
matter  comes  through  the  agencies,  never  heard  of 

199 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

you  and  never  will.  If  you  can  get  a  small  number 
of  clean  medical  ads  at  double  your  regular  rate  you 
are  much  better  off  than  if  you  sold  twice  the  space 
at  regular  rates  and  immeasurably  better  off  than  if 
you  sold  four  times  the  space  at  the  customary  agency 
"  half-rates."  Every  patent  medicine  advertisement 
hurts  the  paper  in  the  eyes  of  at  least  a  few  readers, 
and  if  the  publisher's  finances  will  not  permit  him 
to  rule  them  out  altogether,  the  next  best  thing  is  to 
demand  fancy  prices  and  exercise  a  strict  censorship 
over  the  copy  and  the  cuts  that  come  with  it. 

Many  large  newspapers  owe  a  considerable  per- 
centage of  their  circulation  to  their  "  classified  ads." 
These  columns  are  "news"  to  many  of  the  readers, 
and  by  such  >the  classified  page  is  read  before  anything 
else.  It  should  be  unnecessary  to  urge  every  pub- 
lisher to  push  this  branch  of  advertising  with  the 
utmost  vigor.  Have  signs  in  every  drug  store  and 
news-stand  where  there  is  a  telephone,  announcing 
that  classified  advertisements  will  be  telephoned  to 
your  paper  up  to  the  hour  of  going  to  press ;  and  give 
the  druggist  and  news-dealer  a  commission  on  the 
business  done.  Have  as  many  good  solicitors  out  as 
necessary,  and  make  your  rates  low  enough  to  invite 
this  form  of  advertising.  One  cent  a  word,  with  a 
minimum  of  ten  cents  for  an  ad,  is  enough  for  "  Situ- 
ation Wanted  "  and  "  Help  Wanted  "  matter.  Some 
papers  run  these  free,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  they 
gain  anything  by  it.  "  For  Rent,"  "  For  Sale,"  "  Lost 
and  Found,"  "  For  Exchange,"  "  Personal,"  and  simi- 
lar classifications  should  be  about  50  per  cent  higher. 
A  good  plan  is  to  sell  coupon  books  giving  real  estate 
dealers,  small  tradesmen,  and  other  regular  users  of 
classified  space  about  $6  worth  of  advertising  space 
for  $5  paid  in  advance,  with  even  greater  reductions 

200 


FILLING  THE   "AD"   COLUMNS 

for  larger  amounts.  The  possession  of  such  a  book 
is  likely  to  make  the  advertiser  lavish  in  his  use  of 
space.  The  publisher  always  should  reserve  the  right 
to  assign  each  ad  to  its  legitimate  position  regardless 
of  the  classification  indicated  by  the  advertiser.  He 
should  likewise  retain  the  right  to  throw  out  any 
advertisement  for  moral  or  other  reasons.  He  will  do 
well  to  be  on  the  lookout  for  agency  matter  offering 
"  big  wages  for  working  at  home "  and  similar 
schemes.  Every  reader  who  is  defrauded  through 
such  advertisements  has  a  moral,  if  not  a  legal,  claim 
for  damages  against  the  newspaper  that  printed  it. 
In  the  long  run  the  less  foreign  advertising  you  print 
the  better,  because  the  money  sent  out  of  your  terri- 
tory as  the  result  of  such  advertising  means  less  trade 
for  the  local  merchants. 

Insist  on  having  none  but  clear  and  high-class 
illustrations  in  your  advertising  columns.  A  smashed 
or  unsightly  electrotype  in  an  advertisement  will  be 
just  as  great  a  blemish  on  the  page  as  if  it  appeared 
in  the  news  columns.  Some  papers  charge  penalties 
for  cuts  in  advertising  matter,  and  some  bar  them 
out  altogether;  but  neither  policy  is  advisable,  be- 
cause it  is  certain  that  cuts  help  to  sell  goods.  For 
this  reason  they  should  be  welcomed,  but  the  pub- 
lisher should  insist  that  they  be  chaste  in  design  and 
creditable  in  appearance.  If  you  can  accomplish  this 
in  no  other  way,  enter  into  an  agreement  with  the 
advertiser  to  illustrate  his  ads  yourself  at  a  slight 
margin  above  actual  cost. 

There  are  now  half  a  dozen  good  periodicals  (to  say 
nothing  of  the  poor  ones)  devoted  solely  to  the  science 
of  advertising.  It  will  pay  every  newspaper  publisher, 
whatever  the  size  or  standing  of  his  paper,  to  sub- 
scribe for  some  of  the  good  ones  and  read  them  care- 

20 1 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

fully.  Every  country  editor  and  city  solicitor  ought 
to  know  the  elements  of  successful  advertising  and  be 
able  to  put  them  into  practise  at  a  moment's  notice.  A 
total  of  about  $100,000,000  is  now  spent  annually  for 
'newspaper  and  magazine  advertising  in  the  United 
States.  The  publisher  who  gets  the  largest  share  of 
his  town's  contribution  to  this  enormous  fund  is  the 
one  who  does  the  most  to  convince  his  advertisers 
that  he  is  a  sincere  and  practical  fellow-promoter  of 
their  business  interests. 


202 


XV 

EDITING  A  COUNTRY  PAPER 

THERE  are  now  nearly  15,000  weekly  country 
newspapers  in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  com- 
prising not  far  from  three-fourths  of  all  the  periodicals 
in  the  land.  In  the  aggregate  these  rural  papers 
exert  great  power,  for  the  country  voters  still  out- 
number those  in  cities.  The  average  of  editorial  abil- 
ity on  the  country  press,  however,  is  probably  lower 
to-day  than  it  was  a  generation  ago,  while  the  number 
of  papers  is  enormously  greater.  Both  of  these  facts 
are  closely  connected  with  the  advent  of  the  ready 
print  or  "  patent  inside."  This  has  made  it  possible 
to  issue  a  complete  newspaper  of  imposing  size  for 
about  one-half  what  it  would  have  cost  if  the  country 
editor  had  produced  it  all  in  his  own  office.  It  also 
has  made  it  possible  for  almost  anybody  to  run  such 
a  newspaper,  since  no  wide  knowledge  of  men  or  of 
national  events  is  now  necessary.  The  result  has  been 
a  tremendous  influx  of  untrained  editors,  though 
every  village  is  now  able  to  afford  its  own  paper. 

New  forces  are  to-day  at  work  transforming  the 
rural  districts.  Chief  among  these  forces  are  the 
electric  car  lines,  the  telephone,  and  the  free  rural 
mail  delivery  service.  Coupled  with  the  typesetting 
machine  and  other  modern  printing  machinery,  these 
agencies  are  rapidly  revolutionizing  the  country  news- 
paper, for  they  are  enabling  the  large  city  dailies  to 

203 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

cover  a  much  larger  territory  than  ever  before.  The 
"  patent  inside  "  seems  destined  to  disappear,  except 
in  remote  pioneer  communities.  The  country  editors 
who  can  adapt  themselves  most  effectively  to  the  new- 
conditions  will  be  the  ones  to  survive  and  prosper. 

As  the  metropolitan  dailies  reach  out  farther  and 
farther  into  the  country  districts  they  will  undermine 
the  poorly  conducted  local  paper,  just  as  the  city 
mail-order  houses  are  taking  away  trade  from  the 
country  merchant  who  does  not  run  his  store  on  mod- 
ern methods.  The  country  weekly  already  has  passed 
the  zenith  of  its  career  and  is  destined  to  decrease 
both  in  numbers  and  influence  as  the  local  and  metro- 
politan dailies  take  its  place.  Until  fifteen  or  twenty 
years  ago  nearly  every  large  city  daily  condensed  its 
best  news  into  a  weekly,  which  was  often  the  best 
paying  feature  of  the  establishment.  That  kind  of 
weekly  has  vanished  almost  absolutely.  The  Sunday 
paper  and  the  magazine  have  taken  its  place.  These 
are  also  invading  the  domain  of  the  country  weekly, 
and  will  do  so  increasingly  with  the  spread  of  rural 
free  delivery  of  mail  and  the  bettering  of  transporta- 
tion facilities  throughout  the  country.  The  stern  evo- 
lutionary process  that  results  in  the  survival  of  the 
fittest  is  likely  to  work  some  important  changes  in 
rural  journalism  in  the  next  decade  or  two. 

In  the  printing  of  local  and  neighborhood  news, 
however,  the  big  city  journals  are  not  rivals  of  the 
village  papers,  and  probably  never  will  be.  This  part 
of  the  field  the  invaders  can  not  usurp.  In  the  news 
and  announcements  of  its  own  bailiwick  the  coun- 
try paper  will  continue  to  find  a  valid  cause  for  its 
existence  and  prosperity.  The  coming  years  will 
see  many  local  weeklies  replaced  by  local  dailies, 
even  in  communities  that  would  formerly  have  been 

204 


EDITING   A   COUNTRY   PAPER 

considered  too  small  to  support  a  daily.  The  wealth 
of  the  people,  and  especially  of  the  farmers,  is  in- 
creasing so  rapidly  that  hundreds  who  formerly  could 
scarcely  afford  to  subscribe  for  a  local  weekly  are 
now  having  both  a  big  city  daily  and  a  local  daily 
delivered  regularly  at  their  gates.  The  country 
editor  has  every  reason  to  feel  encouraged  over  the 
outlook,  though  he  must  accustom  himself  to  face 
the  fact  that  his  mission  as  a  purveyor  of  foreign 
and  general  domestic  news  may  soon  be  ended. 
Whether  the  change  will  be  early  or  late  in  com- 
ing depends  solely  upon  the  nearness  of  a  large  city 
and  the  perfection  of  rapid  mail  transit  over  the 
intervening  space.  Already  many  editors  have  found 
it  more  profitable  to  give  up  the  foreign  news  entirely 
and  make  purely  local  or  county  papers  rather  than 
to  give  their  sheets  the  machine-made  appearance 
that  goes  with  the  ready  prints.  By  purchasing  white 
paper  in  large  lots  they  can  save  enough  to  employ 
an  extra  compositor,  thus  insuring  several  extra  col- 
umns of  local  matter,  with  a  corresponding  increase 
in  readers,  advertisers,  and  profits. 

My  own  experience  in  this  field  was  on  an  eight- 
page  weekly  which  I  helped  to  found  in  a  large  Chi- 
cago suburb,  and  which  was  and  is  as  successful  as 
the  circumstances  will  allow.  We  made  no  use  of 
ready  prints,  of  course,  in  such  a  town,  though  we  dis- 
covered that  a  few  columns  of  miscellany  in  the  form 
of  plates  were  extremely  convenient  sometimes  when 
there  was  a  shortage  of  local  news.  Otherwise  we 
filled  the  eight  pages  with  purely  local  matter  and  set 
it  all  up  in  our  own  office.  The  years  I  spent  as 
editor  of  that  weekly  were  the  most  strenuous  of  my 
life,  and  I  learned  some  things.  Among  these  was 
the  fact  that  even  a  wide-awake  local  newspaper  can 
15  205 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

never  attain  any  great  authority  or  prosperity  within 
a  dozen  miles  of  a  large  city.  The  farther  a  country 
paper  is  removed  from  a  metropolis  the  better  its 
chance  of  success. 

While  we  are  on  the  subject  of  location  it  may  be 
remarked  that  a  small  town  in  the  heart  of  a  prosper- 
ous farming  region  is  a  better  place  for  a  newspaper 
than  a  factory  or  mining  town  of  the  same  size.  Busi- 
ness is  more  stable  in  an  agricultural  community,  and 
less  liable  to  be  affected  by  labor  troubles  or  polit- 
ical changes.  The  character  of  the  population  also  is 
important.  Ten  thousand  native  Americans  will  do 
more  to  support  a  newspaper  in  the  English  language 
than  fifty  thqusand  foreign-born  settlers.  There  are 
towns  of  only  a  thousand  inhabitants  in  which  a 
country  weekly  can  become  a  paying  property.  In 
towns  of  from  two  to  three  thousand  the  chances  of 
success  are  reasonably  sure,  and  in  towns  of  from 
three  to  five  thousand,  with  a  proportionate  country 
population,  the  conditions  are  likely  to  be  all  that  the 
publisher  of  a  country  weekly  should  desire.  If  the 
town  be  a  county  seat  in  which  no  daily  or  triweekly 
has  been  started,  and  if  it  be  not  too  near  a  large  city, 
it  should  afford  a  good  opportunity  for  an  editor  not 
only  to  make  a  comfortable  living,  but  to  become  a 
political  power  in  his  community.  If  he  have  political 
aspirations,  his  chances  to  enter  the  Legislature  or  go 
to  Congress  are  infinitely  greater  in  such  a  place  than 
they  would  be  if  he  were  a  subeditor  on  a  metropoli- 
tan daily. 

There  are  many  towns  of  from  five  thousand  to 
fifteen  thousand  inhabitants  that  still  offer  an  open 
field  for  original  journalism  on  the  lines  of  the  modern 
daily,  because  the  country  editors  now  in  possession 
do  not  know  how  to  make  the  most  of  their  opportuni- 

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EDITING   A   COUNTRY   PAPER 

ties.  My  advice  to  the  hard-worked  and  anonymous 
editorial  slave  in  the  large  city  is  to  save  his  money 
and  buy  a  country  paper  in  such  a  town.  His  work 
will  be  no  harder,  and  if  he  makes  a  success  he  has  a 
valuable  property  and  a  position  that  he  can  keep  long 
after  the  time  when  he  would  probably  be  dropped 
from  the  staff  of  a  large  city  daily. 

In  cities  of  from  twenty  to  fifty  thousand  inhabit- 
ants the  successful  journalist  must  of  necessity  be  an 
all-around  newspaper  man,  able  to  write  advertise- 
ments or  to  turn  out  a  column  of  editorial  matter  at 
short  notice.  He  must  be  able  to  preside  at  a  polit- 
ical gathering  and  make  a  good  speech  when  occa- 
sion demands.  He  must  know  and  respect  his  com- 
munity and  make  himself  a  force  for  the  public  good. 
At  the  same  time  he  must  have  business  ability  and 
be  able  to  hold  his  own  against  the  persistent  de- 
mands of  the  newspaper  advertising  agencies.  These 
things  require  versatility  of  talent,  incomparable  tact, 
and  an  unfailing  faculty  for  gaging  all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions of  men.  The  school  of  country  journalism 
trains  up  men  of  this  kind,  while  the  big  city  daily 
too  often  makes  only  one-sided  specialists  out  of  its 
devotees. 

It  can  not  be  too  strongly  impressed  upon  the 
country  editor  that  his  paper  exists  to  print  the  local 
news.  A  farmer  may  not  care  to  know  that  the  triple 
alliance  has  been  dissolved,  but  he  is  sure  to  wish 
to  know  whether  or  not  the  washout  in  the  road  on 
the  other  side  of  the  township  is  going  to  be  repaired 
in  a  few  days.  This  demand  for  home  news  is  con- 
stant, and  the  supply  is  constant.  The  people  of 
Nebraska  are  more  interested  in  learning  that  the 
Governor  of  Nebraska  has  smashed  his  thumb  with  a 
hammer  while  laying  a  carpet  than  in  hearing  about 

207 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

a  revolution  in  South  America.  Interest  in  events 
decreases  in  proportion  to  their  distance  from  home, 
just  as  the  size  of  objects  grows  less  to  the  eye.  It 
is  also  wise  to  cultivate  local  pride.  The  town  may 
not  be  the  garden  of  Eden,  but  it  will  do  the  people 
no  harm  to  think  it  is,  and  there  are  excellent  rea- 
sons why  the  local  paper  should  support  such  an 
opinion. 

As  the  paper  is  bought  for  its  home  news,  the 
first  thing  for  the  editor  to  do  is  to  organize  a  sys- 
tem for  getting  every  item  of  local  news  worth  print- 
ing. Let  us  suppose  he  is  starting  a  new  weekly.  The 
limits  of  his  territory,  generally  speaking,  will  be  the 
boundaries  of  his  county.  He  must  cover  that  terri- 
tory as  completely  as  the  city  editor  of  a  metropoli- 
tan daily  covers  a  radius  of  a  hundred  miles.  This 
he  can  not  do  without  a  system  as  complete  in  its  way 
as  that  of  a  large  daily.  Nothing  must  be  left  to 
chance.  Whether  the  village  or  the  world  be  the  pa- 
per's field,  there  are  news  centers  that  must  be  tapped 
regularly.  These  centers  can  be  discovered  and  classi- 
fied so  completely  that  they  can  be  made  to  render 
account  of  every  event  of  importance  in  the  county. 
But  it  requires  a  large  staff  of  correspondents  to  do 
this.  There  are  various  ways  of  securing  these,  but 
one  of  the  best  is  that  outlined  by  Mr.  A.  J.  Munson 
in  his  admirable  little  book,  Making  a  Country  News- 
paper. It  includes  the  securing  of  a  general  cor- 
respondent in  each  township,  school  district,  or  large 
neighborhood,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  send  a  regu- 
lar weekly  budget  of  neighborhood  news;  also  the 
securing  of  a  large  corps  of  special  correspondents, 
such  as  justices  of  the  peace,  undertakers,  preachers, 
and  the  like,  who  will  agree  to  send  the  news  in  their 
special  lines.  With  proper  care  an  excellent  and  com- 

208 


EDITING  A   COUNTRY   PAPER 

plete  weekly  news  service  covering  the  whole  county 
can  thus  be  organized  and  kept  in  operation  through- 
out the  year  at  remarkably  small  expense. 

The  general  correspondents  should  be  permanent 
residents,  who  will  consider  themselves  responsible  for 
what  they  write.  The  only  way  to  be  sure  of  getting 
the  best  men  or  women  is  to  make  a  personal  can- 
vass of  each  community  for  the  purpose.  Every  cor- 
respondent should  be  instructed  carefully  in  the  kind 
of  news  to  send  and  the  kind  not  to  send.  Events  of 
importance  must  be  reported  promptly,  and  each  cor- 
respondent should  send  in  a  budget  of  neighborhood 
news  each  week.  It  will  pay  the  editor  to  write  and 
print  a  circular  or  little  pamphlet  of  instructions  to 
reporters,  outlining  the  best  ways  of  doing  their  work. 
Here  are  the  main  features  of  a  pamphlet  of  this  kind 
used  by  an  enterprising  country  paper  in  Pennsyl- 
vania : 

The  one  great  object  of  a  newspaper  is  to  give  the 
news,  of  course.  Give  all  the  news  you  can  find.  Do  not 
express  any  opinions  about  certain  events  in  your  local- 
ity. Let  the  public  form  its  own  opinions.  Do  not  depend 
upon  hearsay  for  your  important  news,  but  investigate 
it  yourself  if  possible.  Send  no  items  which  would,  if 
printed,  make  an  enemy.  Rather  say  a  good  word  than  a 
bad  one,  even  though  it  may  stretch  your  conscience  to 
do  so.  Do  not  send  news  out  of  another  correspondent's 
territory. 

Every  honest  man  in  the  world  likes  to  see  his  name  in 
print.  Let  the  people  know  that  you  are  a  newspaper 
correspondent,  and  they  will  oftentimes  give  you  an  arti- 
cle of  news  when  you  least  expect  it.  A  list  of  the  paper's 
subscribers  is  sent  with  this  pamphlet.  Keep  track  of 
their  doings  and  the  doings  of  their  friends.  It  will  please 
them  and  make  them  stanch  friends  of  yours  and  of  the 
paper. 

209 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

Try  to  write  a  letter  every  week,  even  if  you  have  only 
a  few  items  of  news.  If  you  have  any  news  about  your- 
self, don't  be  afraid  to  send  it.  Get  the  people  interested 
in  the  paper  by  giving  them  every  bit  of  news  that  you 
can  find. 

Who?  What?  When?  Where?  Why?  How?  If 
the  correspondent  will  bear  in  mind  these  six  words  when- 
ever he  writes  an  article,  he  will  be  sure  to  make  it  inter- 
esting. Remember  that  the  people  want  to  know  every- 
thing about  events  of  general  interest,  and  the  more  de- 
tails you  give  the  better  they  will  be  pleased.  In  the  case 
of  an  accident  the  public  wants  to  know  who  were  in  it, 
where  it  was,  and  how  it  happened. 

In  cases  of  death,  give  the  name  in  full,  and  the  age; 
if  a  child,  the  parents'  names,  and  if  a  wife,  the  husband's 
full  name;  the  cause  of  death,  when  it  was,  when  or 
where  the  funeral  was  or  will  be  held,  where  the  place  of 
burial  is,  and  who  the  officiating  clergyman  was.  An 
account  of  a  funeral  will  interest  everybody,  and  there- 
fore ought  to  be  very  minute  and  authentic.  Tell  some- 
thing about  the  personality  of  the  deceased,  and  his  or 
her  standing  in  the  community.  Don't  forget  to  give  the 
names  of  children  of  the  deceased;  likewise  the  names  of 
brothers  and  sisters.  Be  sure  to  spell  them  correctly;  if 
an  unusual  name  appears,  print  it  in  big  Roman  letters, 
so  that  the  printer  can  not  mistake  it. 

We  desire  to  record  every  birth  that  takes  place  in 
our  territory,  and  our  correspondents  will  kindly  inform 
us  of  all  "  new  arrivals."  State  names  of  parents,  place 
of  residence,  date  of  birth,  and  sex  of  child. 

Marriages  should  be  reported  in  this  style:  Names  of 
contracting  parties,  son  and  daughter  of  whom,  where 
reside,  when  married,  where  married,  and  by  whom.  If 
a  reception  is  tendered,  give  names  of  people  present. 
Don't  forget  the  ladies.  Report  everything  they  do  that 
is  of  public  interest.  If  they  entertain  visitors,  give  the 
full  names  of  the  visitors  and  their  place  of  residence. 

This  paper  is  dated  Saturday,  but  it  is  printed  on  Fri- 

210 


EDITING   A   COUNTRY    PAPER 

day  afternoon.  Send  your  regular  correspondence  at  any 
time  during  the  early  part  of  the  week,  not  later  than 
Wednesday  night.  Other  special  news  should  be  sent  so 
that  it  reaches  us  Friday  morning.  The  newsiest  news  you 
can  give  is  that  which  describes  events  occurring  so  short 
a  time  before  Saturday  as  to  surprise  the  readers  when 
they  see  it,  because,  first,  they  haven't  heard  of  it ;  second, 
they  didn't  think  we  had;  and  third,  they  wonder  how  the 
whole  account  could  be  so  quickly  printed.  Don't  be 
afraid  to  send  an  extra  letter  when  you  have  an  important 
item  of  news.  Paper  and  postage  are  cheap ;  if  your  sup- 
ply is  exhausted,  send  to  us  for  more. 

Besides  furnishing  us  with  the  news  of  your  territory, 
you  may  send  descriptions  of  other  local  matters  of  inter- 
est. Say  a  good  word  for  your  town,  your  local  industries, 
your  churches,  and  your  local  societies  or  organizations. 
People  like  to  read  the  news  first,  and  then  they  like  to 
read  about  matters  in  which  they  are  interested,  but  which 
are  not  strictly  news.  Relics,  heirlooms,  old  coins,  natural 
curiosities,  etc.,  can  be  described  and  will  be  of  interest 
to  everybody,  even  if  the  person  who  possesses  them  is 
unknown  to  the  reader.  In  short,  send  whatever  you 
would  be  interested  in  reading  if  written  by  somebody  else. 

Avoid  too  frequent  mention  of  certain  persons,  even 
though  they  stand  high  in  the  community.  The  people 
whose  names  never  appear  in  your  column  are  sure  to 
notice  your  apparent  partiality. 

Give  authentic  reports  of  public  meetings.  Omit  all 
comments  or  adjectives  denoting  your  own  opinion  of 
what  the  speaker  said.  It  is  better  to  quote  what  was 
said  and  leave  the  reader  to  form  his  own  opinion. 

Write  nothing  relating  to  church  wrangles,  personal 
matters,  and  private  family  affairs,  and  let  violently  alone 
anything  having  the  appearance  of  a  scandal. 

Don't  try  to  "get  even"  with  anybody  through  the 
columns  of  a  newspaper.  It  may  injure  you,  and  it  is 
sure  to  injure  the  paper. 

Speak  a  good  word  for  the  paper  whenever  and  wher- 

211 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

ever  possible,  and  get  people  interested  in  it.  You  are 
our  agent  and  representative  in  your  territory.  You  are 
authorized  to  take  subscriptions,  advertisements,  ani 
orders  for  job-printing,  and  we  will  allow  you  a  largt 
discount  on  all  orders  taken.  Send  us  the  names  of  any 
people  in  your  territory  who  might  become  subscribers, 
and  we  will  send  them  the  paper  free  for  four  weeks, 
after  which  you  can  call  upon  them  for  their  subscription. 
Collect  the  full  subscription  price  and  retain  one-third  of 
it  as  your  commission,  sending  two-thirds  promptly  to  us. 
This  applies  only  to  new  subscribers.  Some  of  our  cor- 
respondents have  made  neat  sums  from  their  commissions, 
and  without  a  great  deal  of  work  or  time  you  can  do  the 
same. 

This  work  of  neighborhood  news-gathering  con- 
stitutes the  first  round  on  the  journalistic  ladder,  and 
there  are  always  bright  young  men  and  women  who 
are  glad  to  undertake  it  without  any  pay  beyond  a 
regular  copy  of  the  paper,  the  necessary  postage  and 
stationery,  and  a  commission  on  new  subscriptions 
secured.  The  editor  should  keep  a  record  of  the  post- 
age stamps  and  stationery  sent  to  each  correspondent. 
An  occasional  letter  cheering  the  scribe  in  his  work 
will  be  worth  while.  When  any  important  event  is 
expected  to  take  place  in  the  territory  of  one  of 
these  general  correspondents,  the  editor  should  let 
him  know  in  good  time  whether  he  is  to  cover  it  or 
not,  and  what  are  the  points  to  which  he  should  give 
special  attention  if  he  writes  the  story. 

In  addition  to  the  general  correspondents  there 
should  also  be  a  complete  corps  of  special  correspond- 
ents, who  will  constitute  an  even  more  important  part 
of  the  news-gathering  machine.  All  the  undertakers 
in  the  county  should  be  enlisted  to  report  the  deaths. 
Every  justice  of  the  peace  should  be  a  special  cor- 
respondent to  report  the  cases  in  his  court.  To  get 

212 


EDITING   A   COUNTRY   PAPER 

the  church  news  every  preacher  must  be  enlisted. 
Important  school  news  is  most  likely  to  come  through 
the  county  superintendent.  The  doctors  are  the  best 
men  to  report  accidents,  births,  cases  of  contagious 
disease,  and  the  like.  Country  officials,  railway 
agents,  the  secretaries  of  fraternity  lodges,  and  others 
in  a  position  to  get  news  should  all  be  made  special 
correspondents  if  possible.  In  most  cases  these  men 
will  be  willing  to  serve  for  a  free  copy  of  the  paper 
and  the  free  advertising  which  their  news  will  often 
give  them.  If  this  is  not  sufficient  in  some  cases  a 
bargain  can  be  made  by  running  a  professional  card 
in  the  advertising  columns  for  each  man.  The  editor 
can  well  afford  to  do  this  if  the  men  can  be  kept 
friendly  and  interested  enough  to  report  all  the  news 
in  their  several  lines. 

There  will  still  remain  certain  important  things 
which  the  editor  must  attend  to  in  person.  Sessions 
of  the  Circuit  Court,  large  fires,  sensational  crimes, 
political  conventions,  and  the  like,  can  not  be  entrust- 
ed to  outside  talent.  For  his  own  convenience  and 
security  every  editor  should  keep  an  assignment  book, 
like  that  kept  by  every  large  daily,  in  which  are  re- 
corded the  dates  of  all  known  future  events  of  impor- 
tance. This  should  be  carefully  kept  and  closely 
watched.  Some  of  the  events  can  be  assigned  to  the 
local  correspondents,  but  the  more  important  ones 
can  not.  The  editor  or  a  trustworthy  assistant  should 
get  the  court-house  news  and  see  the  county  clerk 
each  week.  Access  to  the  court  files  can  usually  be 
had  if  the  privilege  be  not  abused. 

With  such  an  extensive  news  service  it  is  clear 
that  the  blue  pencil  will  have  an  important  function 
to  fill  in  the  country  editor's  office.  The  news  will 
arrive  in  all  sorts  of  shapes,  and  some  of  it  will  be 

213 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

duplicated.  There  will  be  much  drudgery  in  wading 
through  the  whole  mass,  in  cutting  out  all  trivialities 
and  duplicate  items,  in  recasting  badly  written  stuff, 
in  condensing  some  items  and  expanding  others,  and 
in  watching  that  nothing  ill-natured  or  libelous  gets 
into  the  paper.  But  this  labor  is  the  price  the  editor 
pays  for  having  so  cheap  and  complete  a  news  service. 
The  time  used  in  putting  this  matter  into  shape  is 
well  and  profitably  spent.  The  blue  pencil  should  be 
handled  with  the  firm  intention  of  letting  nothing  go 
into  print  for  which  the  editor  is  not  ready  to  become 
personally  responsible.  There  will  be  men  who  will 
want  to  use  the  paper  for  their  own  purposes  in  ways 
that  will  make  enemies.  If  the  editor  has  not  back- 
bone enough  to  say  "  no  "  in  such  cases,  he  should  get 
out  of  the  newspaper  business. 

It  is  a  good  plan  to  keep  a  book  in  which  to  jot 
down  ideas  for  special  stories  and  sketches,  which 
can  be  worked  out  on  the  quieter  days.  Many  such 
ideas  can  be  got  from  exchanges.  Then  there  are 
the  usual  local  specials  to  be  had  by  interviewing  old 
settlers,  or  by  securing  personal  reminiscences  from 
residents  who  have  good  stories  to  tell.  Every  old 
churchyard  has  its  stories,  and  there  is  always  some- 
body who  can  recall  them.  Historical  sketches  of  the 
local  schools,  churches,  and  societies  may  often  make 
good  reading  and  add  to  the  interest  of  the  paper. 
The  art  of  digging  out  good  special  articles  is  as 
valuable  to  the  country  editor  as  to  the  space  writer 
on  the  city  daily.  Sometimes  these  local  articles  can 
also  be  recast  and  sold  to  city  papers,  by  which 
means  the  country  editor  may  in  time  form  valuable 
connections  and  become  the  local  correspondent  for 
several  metropolitan  dailies.  It  is  also  worth  while 
for  the  village  correspondent  of  the  country  weekly 

214 


EDITING   A   COUNTRY   PAPER 

to  try  his  hand  at  writing  special  articles  of  this  kind 
for  his  paper.  It  is  good  training  and  may  lead  to 
something  profitable,  for  the  country  editor  is  often  in 
a  position  to  recommend  a  member  of  his  staff  to  a 
city  paper  when  it  is  in  search  of  a  local  representative. 

Methods  of  securing  subscribers  are  only  less  im- 
portant than  those  of  securing  a  good  news  service. 
The  most  effective  method  is  to  canvass  the  whole 
field.  It  will  pay  to  give  agents  a  liberal  percentage 
for  all  new  subscribers  and  to  divide  up  the  territory 
so  that  every  house  will  be  visited.  A  list  of  all  the 
voters,  with  their  addresses,  can  usually  be  secured 
by  using  a  little  tact  with  the  proper  election  officials. 
A  sample  copy  of  the  paper  can  thus  be  mailed  to 
each  address,  and  the  canvassing  agent  can  likewise 
use  the  list  in  his  work.  If  the  paper  be  such  that 
every  man  will  be  interested  in  it  and  will  wish  to 
have  it,  a  thorough  canvass  on  these  lines  will  give 
the  best  results  obtainable.  The  scheme  of  offering 
premiums  or  giving  combination  rates  with  magazines 
or  other  papers  is  comparatively  worthless. 

To  be  even  moderately  profitable  a  country  weekly 
should  have  a  circulation  of  at  least  1,200.  Unless 
a  community  gives  reasonable  promise  of  this  num- 
ber of  subscribers,  or  more,  it  is  not  wise  to  try  to 
publish  a  paper  there.  A  country  publisher  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  be  in  comfortable  circumstances 
until  his  paper  has  a  circulation  of  2,000  or  more. 
The  best  way  to  get  the  maximum  circulation  that 
the  population  will  yield  is  to  make  as  good  a  paper 
as  if  you  had  such  a  circulation,  and  to  keep  the  whole 
community  aware  of  the  fact  through  sample  copies 
and  good  solicitors. 

The  time  is  past  when  it  paid  to  install  any  ma- 
chine but  a  cylinder-press,  even  in  the  remotest  country 

215 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

town.  Good  second-hand  cylinder-presses  do  not  cost 
a  great  deal.  If  the  new  editor  can  not  afford  to 
start  with  one  of  these  he  would  better  not  begin 
at  all. 

If  a  paper  has  the  best  news  service  in  the  county 
it  will  have  little  difficulty  in  getting  a  maximum  cir- 
culation, and,  if  it  has  the  circulation,  it  has  every 
right  to  expect  the  necessary  advertising  patronage. 
Many  country  editors  fail  to  realize  how  largely  their 
advertising  depends  upon  their  news  columns.  Still 
more  of  them  fail  to  get  the  maximum  of  advertising 
from  their  local  merchants  because  they  do  not  know 
how  to  refute  the  mistaken  notion,  thrown  at  them 
daily,  that  advertising  doesn't  pay.  Usually  the  mer- 
chants who  make  this  trite  statement  are  correct  so 
far  as  their  own  experience  goes.  The  kind  of  ads 
they  write  do  not  pay.  Their  advertisements  usually 
contain  nothing  more  definite  than  might  be  learned 
by  reading  the  street  signs  over  their  store  doors. 
They  must  be  taught  how  to  advertise,  and  who  is 
going  to  teach  them  if  the  local  editor  and  publisher 
be  as  ignorant  as  themselves  on  that  point?  The 
chapters  on  advertising,  found  elsewhere  in  this  vol- 
ume, deal  with  this  important  subject  in  detail. 

It  is  not  in  the  province  of  this  book  to  go  very 
deeply  into  the  matter  of  typographical  make-up,  but 
it  may  be  noted  in  passing  that  one  of  the  worst  handi- 
caps of  the  average  country  newspaper  is  its  slovenly 
appearance.  This  is  largely  caused  by  the  use  of 
too  many  kinds  of  display  type,  by  inartistic  headings, 
and  by  poor  ink.  The  amount  of  ink  required  for  a 
country  newspaper  edition  is  not  large,  and  it  pays 
to  use  a  good  grade.  Leaded  brevier  type  is  also 
better  than  solid  type  of  a  larger  size,  because  it 
makes  clearer  and  more  attractive  work.  The  head- 

216 


EDITING  A   COUNTRY   PAPER 

lines  should  be  in  harmony  with  the  rest  of  the  dress, 
and  should  be  constructed  to  tell  the  news.  Head- 
line writing  is  treated  more  at  length  in  the  chapter 
on  Editors  and  their  Methods.  The  usual  defect  in 
the  advertising  columns  is  that  the  country  printer 
uses  too  many  different  kinds  of  type  in  the  same  ad. 
He  mixes  black  Gothics,  old  English,  Jensen,  De 
Vinne,  and  even  script  letters  along  with  the  usual 
Roman  body  type  and  Italics  in  a  way  that  is  bar- 
barous. The  result  is  repellent  to  an  artistic  eye, 
though  nine  out  of  ten  persons  might  not  be  able  to 
tell  why.  Much  more  effective  results  may  be  had 
with  simply  two  or  three  harmonious  styles  of  letter. 
If  your  fonts  are  not  large  enough,  it  will  pay  to  in- 
crease them  in  the  serviceable  lines. 

In  every  growing  town  there  comes  a  time  when 
the  editor  of  one  of  the  local  weeklies  begins  to 
think  of  publishing  a  daily.  No  hard  and  fast  rule 
can  be  laid  down  as  to  when  a  community  may  safely 
be  asked  to  support  a  daily  paper  of  its  own,  but  no 
editor  will  make  a  mistake  if  he  acts  upon  the  advice 
to  postpone  the  daily  just  as  long  as  he  can  without 
yielding  the  field  to  somebody  else.  If  the  town  has 
not  considerably  more  than  4,000  inhabitants  it  may 
even  be  better  to  let  the  other  man  make  the  experi- 
ment. Many  a  town  of  5,000  has  its  graveyard  sacred 
to  the  memory  of  a  local  daily  born  out  of  due  sea- 
son. There  are  in  the  United  States  2,226  daily  news- 
papers, of  which  more  than  2,000  are  published  in 
towns  of  less  than  100,000  inhabitants.  These  papers 
are  the  secondary  schools  from  which  come  some  of 
the  most  capable  workers  on  the  great  dailies,  but  the 
first  years  of  a  new  daily  are  likely  to  be  strenuous. 
The  country  editor  who  feels  called  to  turn  his  weekly 
into  a  daily  may  rest  assured  that  the  task  will  involve 

217 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

more  hard  work  and  sleepless  nights  than  he  imagines 
before  trying  it. 

Yet  somewhere  between  the  4,000  and  the  10,000 
population  mark  each  town  is  quite  certain  to  have 
its  first  daily,  and  if  it  be  a  growing  town  the  property 
may  in  time  become  extremely  valuable.  It  is  safe  to 
count  on  sinking  some  money  during  the  first  year 
or  two,  and  unless  thi  publisher  be  prepared  for  this 
he  should  not  risk  the  experiment.  The  best  patron- 
age that  a  daily  can  hope  for  is  one  subscription  for 
every  ten  of  the  population  in  its  legitimate  territory. 
It  is  impossible  for  the  editor  of  the  weekly  to  know 
beforehand  whether  his  community  will  support  a 
local  daily  or  not.  The  only  way  is  to  start  one  when 
the  time  seems  fully  ripe  for  it,  keeping  the  weekly 
going  to  fall  back  upon  if  a  thorough  trial  of  a  few 
months  should  prove  that  the  daily  can  not  live. 

The  change  from  a  weekly  to  a  daily  is  one  of  the 
most  critical  points  in  the  process  of  journalistic  evo- 
lution. One  man  and  an  assistant  may  run  a  fairly 
good  weekly,  but  the  daily  requires  a  force  organized 
on  the  same  lines  as  that  of  the  metropolitan  journal. 
Four  distinct  departments  must  be  created — news, 
business,  mechanical,  and  circulation.  The  paper 
must  be  delivered  by  carrier.  The  news-gathering 
system  outlined  for  the  weekly  will  make  a  good  basis 
for  that  of  the  daily,  but  it  must  be  extended,  and 
some  of  the  correspondents  can  no  longer  be  expected 
to  work  merely  for  glory  and  a  copy  of  the  paper.  At 
least  one  reporter  will  be  needed  to  collect  the  town 
news  every  day.  The  salaries  paid  to  reporters  in 
country  towns  and  in  the  smaller  cities  range  from 
$5  to  $20  a  week,  and  those  of  assistant  editors  from 
$20  to  $30.  When  the  daily  is  started  the  business 
and  press  departments  will  also  have  to  be  strength- 

218 


EDITING   A   COUNTRY   PAPER 

ened.  To  organize  all  these  departments  the  pub- 
lisher should  have  had  some  personal  experience  in 
the  office  of  a  daily.  Should  he  attempt  it  without  this 
experience  he  must  purchase  his  knowledge  with 
costly  errors  as  he  goes  along. 

From  the  foregoing  outline  of  the  work  of  a  coun- 
try editor  it  may  readily  be  seen  that  his  place  is  no 
sinecure.  To  do  good  work  and  win  lasting  success 
he  must  have  a  good  general  education.  He  should 
know  how  to  write  clear  and  correct  English.  A 
newspaper  that  abounds  in  slang  and  violates  the  sim- 
plest rules  of  grammar  in  every  paragraph  can  never 
obtain  the  respect  of  the  educated  people  in  the  com- 
munity, and  these  are  the  ones  whose  opinion  is  usu- 
ally of  most  importance.  The  editor  must  also  be  a 
man  of  judgment,  able  to  separate  the  trivial  from 
the  essential.  The  country  paper  must  print  more 
insignificant  items  than  city  papers  can  admit  into 
their  columns,  but  the  line  should  be  no  less  clearly 
drawn  in  its  proper  place.  Smith  may  be  pleased  to 
read  that  he  owns  a  new  calf,  or  Jones  that  he  has 
whitewashed  his  chicken  coop,  but  it  is  not  just  to 
the  rest  of  the  subscribers  to  give  them  such  worthless 
news  for  their  money.  A  good  rule  is  to  bar  out  every 
item  that  will  not  be  of  real  interest  to  at  least  a  dozen 
people. 

A  country  editor  ought  to  be  sociable,  tactful,  and 
alert.  He  ought  to  have  a  keen  insight  into  human 
nature.  Without  these  qualities,  as  well  as  a  fair 
education,  there  is  little  hope  of  anything  beyond  a 
bare  livelihood  for  him.  If  he  do  not  understand 
human  character  he  will  be  betrayed  into  printing 
things  that  will  estrange  his  friends  and  drive  away 
business.  If  he  be  not  sociable  by  nature,  enjoying 
intercourse  with  people  and  making  himself  welcome 

219 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

wherever  he  goes,  he  can  not  get  at  the  inner  busi- 
ness or  political  life  of  his  community.  It  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  say  that  truthfulness  and  honesty  are 
absolutely  essential  to  real  success  in  this  as  in  other 
lines  of  endeavor.  By  being  careful  never  to  betray 
a  confidence  an  editor  may  gain  much  valuable  infor- 
mation which  he  may  not  be  able  to  print,  but  which 
will  help  him  in  gaining  a  position  of  influence.  This 
is  especially  true  in  matters  of  local  politics.  At  the 
same  time  his  duty  is  to  give  as  much  news  to  his 
subscribers  as  possible,  and  he  will  often  be  forced 
to  decide  between  their  interests  and  those  of  some 
person  who  wants  to  have  a  news  story  suppressed. 
Each  case  of  this  kind  must  be  decided  on  its  own 
merits — with'  the  fact  always  in  sight  that  a  news- 
paper succeeds  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  news 
it  can  honorably  get  and  print.  It  is  well  also  to 
remember  that,  while  it  is  a  crime  to  make  a  needless 
enemy,  no  wide-awake  newspaper  was  ever  published 
for  a  year  without  making  a  few  enemies. 

Politics  always  is  a  subject  of  importance  to  news- 
paper men,  but  the  mistake  made  by  many  country 
editors  is  in  being  too  violently  partizan.  They  need- 
lessly make  enemies  of  the  whole  portion  of  the  com- 
munity belonging  to  the  opposite  party,  and  thereby 
limit  their  circulation,  their  profits,  and  their  influence. 
In  the  vast  majority  of  cases  it  is  better  for  the  coun- 
try editor  to  remain  independent.  He  can  do  him- 
self a  world  of  harm  by  trying  to  ape  the  "  stalwart " 
partizan  methods  of  the  big  dailies,  or  by  making  his 
paper  a  party  mouthpiece  in  the  hope  of  securing 
election  printing  or  advertising,  or  other  political 
favors.  The  advertising  will  usually  come  of  its  own 
accord  if  the  editor  sees  to  it  that  his  paper  is  the 
most  widely  read  in  the  county,  and  the  way  to  make 

220 


EDITING  A   COUNTRY   PAPER 

it  so  is  to  avoid  making  needless  enemies  and  to  get 
all  the  news. 

There  are  numerous  cases,  of  course,  where  it  is 
necessary  to  run  a  party  paper,  but  it  is  never  wise 
to  do  it  in  such  a  way  that  nobody  in  the  opposite 
party  can  read  it  without  anger.  If  the  editor  gains 
some  political  influence,  he  will  do  well  to  remember 
that  he  is  not  the  whole  of  his  party  in  his  county. 
When  the  head  of  a  country  newspaper  sets  out  to 
make  himself  a  local  dictator  he  is  riding  for  a  fall. 

Local  feuds  or  quarrels  of  any  kind  are  a  good 
thing  to  let  alone.  When  they  result  in  overt  acts, 
such  as  the  injury  or  killing  of  one  of  the  participants, 
the  local  journalist  can  not  avoid  making  mention  of 
the  matter;  but  if  he  be  wise  he  will  refrain  from 
taking  sides  or  commenting  on  the  subject.  He  will 
inevitably  make  more  enemies  than  friends  if  he 
attempts  to  justify  either  combatant.  All  religious 
controversies  should  be  avoided  for  the  same  reason. 
These  are  some  of  the  things  that  inexperienced 
editors  have  to  learn  by  ruinous  experience.  As  for 
the  minor  errors  of  spelling,  grammar,  and  punctua- 
tion, they  may  be  committed  without  such  disastrous 
results,  but  in  the  long  run  they  cause  loss  of  influence 
and  money.  It  would  be  a  good  plan  for  every  coun- 
try editor  occasionally  to  get  some  competent  critic 
to  read  his  paper  through  and  mark  all  the  faults  in 
it.  It  will  help  him  to  weed  out  many  errors  which  he 
is  repeating  in  every  issue  because  he  is  unconscious 
of  them. 

Without  the  "  nose  for  news,"  of  course,  there  is 
no  success  for  any  man  in  the  newspaper  business. 
But  this  is  something  that  develops  with  use,  and  the 
country  editor  can  acquire  as  keen  a  scent  as  the 
city  reporter.  Genius  in  this  line  consists  largely  in 
16  221 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

the  ability  to  guess  shrewdly  what  is  likely  to  occur 
when  certain  conditions  exist,  and  to  be  on  hand  to 
get  the  news  when  the  expected  happens.  The  coun- 
try editor  who  has  this  and  the  other  qualities  just 
named  has  every  chance  of  gaining  an  enviable  posi- 
tion in  his  community.  He  has  more  individual  lib- 
erty and  more  personal  fame  than  the  subeditor  on  a 
large  city  paper,  and  he  has  the  whole  range  of  pro- 
motion before  him  if  he  should  wish  to  seek  a  wider 
field. 

Whether  or  not  the  country  editor  or  reporter 
ought  to  seek  a  position  on  a  metropolitan  daily  is  a 
question  which  Henry  Watterson  answers  in  this  wise 
"fashion : 

"  A  newspaper  worker  in  the  town  or  small  city 
is  more  likely  to  pursue  the  even  tenor  of  his  way 
than  is  the  young  man  on  the  staff  of  a  great  city 
paper.  Position  is  surer,  competition  is  less  fierce, 
and  life  generally  is  less  strenuous  in  the  smaller  com- 
munities. While  no  man  may  be  sure  of  what  he 
may  or  may  not  be  able  to  accomplish  under  the  de- 
veloping influences  of  urgent  and  exacting  circum- 
stances, it  is  safer  and  better  for  one  who  does  not 
feel  that  he  possesses  unusual  ability  to  remain  in  the 
quiet  town,  as  a  newspaper  worker,  than  to  embark 
on  the  tempestuous  sea  of  journalism  in  a  great  city. 
This  is  particularly  true  if  he  be  a  man  with  a  family 
and  find  his  pleasure  in  a  tranquil  domestic  life.  But 
if  he  is  of  a  restless  spirit,  always  craving  for  new 
fields  to  conquer,  he  may  as  well  attempt  metropoli- 
tan journalism,  for  he  will  never  be  content  until  he 
does.  The  chances  are,  of  course,  that  he  will  never 
rise  above  the  crowd,  and  in  this  case  his  life  will  be 
much  harder  and  less  satisfactory  than  if  he  had  re- 
mained in  the  quiet  town.  On  the  other  hand,  he 

222 


EDITING   A   COUNTRY   PAPER 

may  possess  the  marked  journalistic  ability  which  will 
be  recognized  nowhere  so  quickly  as  in  the  great 
center,  and  he  may  attain  a  position  that  will  give 
him  a  broader,  more  active,  and  more  influential  life 
than  could  ever  have  been  his  in  the  home  town.  But 
this  question  may  be  solved,  like  that  other  as  to 
whether  a  young  man  shall  enter  journalism,  solely 
on  the  circumstances  of  the  individual  case. 

"  A  man  of  brilliant  talents  and  sterling  character 
can  not,  after  all,  conceal  himself  from  view.  Whether 
in  the  city  or  in  the  country,  he  will  become  conspicu- 
ous, and  in  the  degree  that  he  is  an  independent  man, 
his  own  master,  he  will  be  both  loved  and  hated." 


223 


XVI 

THE  LAW  OF  LIBEL 

NEWSPAPER  writers  and  publishers  usually  go  into 
the  business  of  handling  the  edged  tools  of  speech 
without  knowing  what  is  libel  and  what  is  legitimate 
criticism.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  they  some- 
times have  to  learn  the  law  of  libel  at  the  hands  of 
an  unfriendly  jury.  It  is  true  that  the  subject  is  com- 
plicated and  that  the  statutes  and  decisions  in  many 
regards  are  in  conflict  with  each  other,  so  that  one  is 
inclined,  at  first  sight,  to  sum  up  the  subject  in  Lord 
Kenyon's  alarmingly  indefinite  dictum,  "  A  man  may 
publish  whatever  a  jury  of  his  countrymen  think  is 
not  blamable."  There  are  many  features  of  the  law  of 
libel,  however,  that  are  much  more  explicit  than  this ; 
nor  is  it  necessary  to  take  a  course  in  a  law  college 
to  be  able  to  avoid  libelous  language.  So  far  as  the 
general  principles  and  the  chief  pitfalls  can  be  set 
forth  in  a  brief  chapter,  I  shall  attempt  to  do  it  here, 
using  as  few  technical  terms  as  may  be  compatible 
with  accuracy. 

Libel  is  defined  by  the  law  books  as  malicious 
defamation,  but  in  most  cases  it  will  do  no  good  to 
show  that  the  libelous  words  were  printed  without 
actual  ill-will.  If  they  are  defamatory  and  false,  the 
law  takes  it  for  granted  that  they  are  malicious,  no 
matter  how  innocent  the  editor  or  publisher  may  be  of 
any  actual  malice.  The  proprietor  of  the  paper  may 

224 


THE   LAW   OF   LIBEL 

show  that  he  was  absent  in  another  town  and  never 
saw  the  offending  statement  until  after  it  was  pub- 
lished, or  that  it  was  published  contrary  to  his  ex- 
plicit orders;  yet  he  is  liable  in  a  civil  action  none 
the  less. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  editor  or  reporter  who 
writes  a  defamatory  statement  in  ignorance  of  its  libel- 
ous  nature.  The  excuse,  "  Didn't  know  it  was  load- 
ed," is  usually  received  as  a  complete  defense  where 
one  man  shoots  another,  but  the  excuse,  "  Didn't 
know  it  was  libelous,"  or  "  Didn't  know  it  was  going 
to  be  published,"  is  not  accepted  as  a  defense  where 
one  man  libels  another.  There  is  an  inconsistency 
here,  but  the  law  stands  as  stated,  and  it  is  well  for 
owners  and  editors  of  newspapers  to  be  aware  of  it. 
Malice,  however,  must  be  more  clearly  shown  in 
criminal  than  in  civil  cases,  and  the  disproof  of  actual 
malice  will  tend  in  mitigation  of  punishment.  For 
this  reason  the  prompt  publication  of  a  retraction  or 
apology  has  its  value,  even  though  not  accepted  by 
the  injured  person.  Refusal  to  retract  can  be  used 
to  show  actual  malice  and  to  secure  extra  or  "  puni- 
tive "  damages.  No  punitive  damages  can  be  secured 
where  there  has  been  a  prompt  and  reasonable 
apology. 

Libel  is  merely  slander  in  a  written  or  printed 
form,  but  the  law  is  more  severe  against  the  written 
than  against  the  spoken  defamation.  You  may  call 
a  man  a  rascal,  a  scoundrel,  or  a  liar  to  his  face  with- 
out being  amenable  to  any  law  save  that  which  he 
may  enforce  with  his  fists,  but  the  same  words  in 
print  render  you  liable  to  prosecution  for  criminal 
libel  or  to  a  civil  suit  for  damages.  The  gist  of  crim- 
inal libel  is  a  breach  of  the  peace,  and  the  punishment 
is  imprisonment.  The  gist  of  civil  libel  is  an  injury 

225 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 

to  some  person's  good  name,  and  the  punishment  is 
the  payment  of  a  fine  to  the  plaintiff.  Separate  actions 
can  be  brought  against  a  man  for  both  kinds  of  libel 
as  the  result  of  a  single  defamatory  statement. 

The  things  that  it  is  not  advisable  to  print  seem 
alarmingly  many  when  one  reads  a  law  book  on 
newspaper  libel,  but  the  American  press  really  has 
all  the  liberty  of  criticism  that  it  ought  to  have.  This 
will  become  more  clear  under  the  discussion  of  what 
the  law  calls  privileged  publications.  In  the  mean- 
while it  will  be  useful  to  consider  some  of  the  chief 
publications  that  are  libelous. 

Published  words  charging  a  person  with  any 
crime,  large  or  small,  are  actionable.  Whenever  the 
charge  or  insinuation,  if  true,  will  subject  the  accused 
to  an  indictment  and  an  infamous  punishment,  the 
words  are  in  themselves  a  valid  ground  for  a  libel 
suit.  The  charge  is  actionable  even  if  the  crime  be 
not  named.  It  is  libelous  to  say :  "  If  he  had  had  his 
deserts  he  would  have  been  hanged  before  now/'  or 
"  He  is  a  murderer,"  or  "  He  is  a  thief,"  even  though 
the  person  murdered  or  robbed  be  not  named.  This 
does  not  apply,  of  course,  to  cases  where  persons  have 
been  found  guilty  of  crimes  by  due  process  of  law. 
We  are  speaking  of  persons  who  have  not  been  pro- 
nounced guilty  by  a  judge  or  a  jury. 

But  how  if  the  charge  be  true,  and  the  man  be 
really  a  murderer  or  a  thief?  Then  the  full  proofs  to 
secure  conviction  in  court  must  be  at  hand,  in  which 
case  they  will  serve  as  an  adequate  defense  in  libel 
proceedings;  but  the  proper  place  to  present  such 
charges  and  proofs  against  a  private  citizen  is  not  in 
a  newspaper  but  before  a  grand  jury  or  to  an  officer 
of  the  law.  It  is  advisable  to  leave  a  few  things  for 
the  courts  and  police  to  do,  and  the  bringing  of  crim- 


THE   LAW   OF   LIBEL 

inal  indictments  is  one  of  these.  The  matter  becomes 
legitimate  newspaper  material  after  the  arrest,  when 
it  is  allowable  to  print  the  charge  on  which  the  person 
has  been  arrested,  even  though  it  should  turn  out  that 
he  is  innocent.  Care  must  be  taken,  however,  not  to 
assume  the  guilt  of  an  arrested  person  before  it  has 
been  established  by  a  trial.  To  do  so,  in  the  head- 
lines or  elsewhere,  is  distinctly  libelous. 

To  charge  a  person  with  bribery  is  actionable.  It 
is  not  necessary  that  the  word  bribery  or  bribed  be 
used.  Any  words  or  even  cartoons  which  carry  to 
the  minds  of  ordinary  readers  the  idea  of  bribery  are 
valid  cause  for  libel  proceedings.  The  same  is  true 
of  charges  of  embezzlement,  extortion,  forgery,  get- 
ting money  under  false  pretenses,  murder,  perjury, 
rape,  incest,  or  any  other  crime.  It  is  libelous  to 
print  anything  that  will  bring  social  degradation  upon 
a  person  unjustly.  Written  words  imputing  want  of 
chastity  to  either  a  man  or  a  woman  are  always  action- 
able, and  usually  may  be  depended  upon  to  make  ex- 
pensive trouble  for  the  paper  that  prints  them. 

Proof  of  the  truth  of  an  accusation  is  almost  always 
a  full  and  complete  defense,  and  is  the  one  now  most 
frequently  used  in  libel  suits.  The  old  common  law 
maxim,  "  The  greater  the  truth  the  greater  the  libel/' 
has  been  discarded  in  every  State  in  the  Union.  In 
Arkansas,  Connecticut,  Georgia,  Indiana,  Maryland, 
Mississippi,  Missouri,  New  Jersey,  North  Carolina, 
Tennessee,  Vermont,  and  Texas  the  truth  may  be 
proved  in  complete  defense  in  criminal  proceedings 
as  well  as  in  civil  actions  for  libel,  even  though  the 
truth  has  been  told  maliciously.  In  Massachusetts 
the  truth  is  declared  a  sufficient  justification  unless 
malicious  intention  is  proved.  In  all  the  remaining 
States  the  general  rule  prevails  that  a  criminal  libel 

227 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

is  justified  by  proof  of  its  truth,  provided  the  publica- 
tion was  made  with  good  motives  and  for  justifiable 
ends.  In  this  case  the  defendant  must  not  only  sus- 
tain the  burden  of  proving  the  truth,  but  must  also 
show  affirmatively  that  his  motive  in  making  the  pub- 
lication was  good  and  the  end  justifiable. 

In  civil  actions  the  truth  is  always  a  complete  de- 
fense, even  if  the  motive  is  shown  to  be  malicious. 
The  rule  is  that  a  man  is  not  entitled  to  damages  for 
injury  to  a  reputation  to  which  his  true  character  did 
not  entitle  him.  The  burden  of  proving  that  the 
words  are  true,  however,  rests  upon  the  man  who 
published  them,  for  if  they  are  defamatory  they  are 
deemed  in  law  to  be  false  until  the  contrary  is  shown. 
The  proofs  must  be  as  broad  as  the  charge,  and 
strong  enough  to  convince  a  jury.  With  experience 
an  editor  usually  grows  less  and  less  inclined  to  print 
stuff  containing  a  possible  libel  suit,  for  evidence  is 
always  hard  to  get  and  juries  are  uncertain  things. 

Where  two  editors  engage  in  a  controversy  and 
hurl  abusive  epithets  at  each  other,  they  are  both  in 
the  wrong,  and  neither  is  likely  to  secure  damages 
from  the  other  if  the  matter  be  taken  into  court.  "  A 
plague  on  both  your  houses  "  is  usually  the  verdict. 

Language  may  be  libelous  which  is  not  defamatory 
of  a  person,  but  which  impairs  the  value  of  a  property. 
Thus  it  is  libelous  falsely  to  underrate  the  circulation 
of  a  particular  newspaper,  though  no  rival  can  call 
you  to  account  in  the  courts  if  you  assert  falsely  that 
your  own  paper's  circulation  is  the  largest  in  the 
United  States. 

Words  that  especially  affect  a  man  in  his  office 
or  profession  may  be  actionable,  though  the  same 
words  would  not  be  actionable  if  applied  to  another 
nian.  Thus  it  is  libelous  to  say  of  a  physician  that 


THE    LAW   OF    LIBEL 

he  would  not  know  the  difference  between  a  case  of 
scarlet  fever  and  a  case  of  surgical  instruments,  while 
the  same  words  might  be  used  with  impunity  against 
a  shoemaker.  It  is  always  actionable  to  call  a  lawyer 
a  shyster  or  a  physician  a  quack.  A  country  attorney 
secured  damages  of  a  paper  that  said  he  had  failed  to 
prosecute  a  person  accused  of  crime  "  purely  out  of 
political  fear."  There  is  no  danger  in  calling  a  lawyer 
a  crank.  It  is  wiser,  however,  to  leave  all  opprobrious 
epithets  out  of  a  newspaper. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  word  "  actionable," 
as  used  in  this  chapter,  means  merely  that  a  legal 
action  can  be  maintained,  if  proved.  Whether  the 
court  will  ultimately  decide  for  the  plaintiff  or  for 
the  defendant  will  depend  upon  many  things,  of  which 
some  can  be  foreseen  and  some  can  not. 

Published  words,  even  though  they  do  not  impute 
the  commission  of  a  crime,  are  actionable  without 
proof  of  special  damage  if  they  tend  to  disgrace,  de- 
grade, or  injure  the  character  of  a  person  or  bring 
him  into  contempt,  hatred,  or  ridicule.  A  South  Car- 
olina court  has  held  that  it  is  libelous  even  to  exag- 
gerate a  woman's  age  in  print.  It  is  actionable  to 
say  in  print  that  a  certain  person  is  incompetent, 
ignorant,  or  untrustworthy,  but  the  plaintiff  can  not 
secure  damages  if  he  be  a  public  official  or  a  candi- 
date for  elective  office.  Any  words  giving  the  impres- 
sion that  a  merchant  or  business  man  is  insolvent  or 
in  financial  embarrassment  are  actionable.  So  are 
words  imputing  dishonesty  or  fraud,  or  tending  in 
any  way  to  prejudice  a  man  in  his  office,  profession, 
or  business.  Special  caution  should  be  used  in  ma- 
king charges  against  private  individuals.  Charges 
against  public  officials  are  protected  up  to  a  certain 
point  by  the  law  of  privilege. 

329 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

A  publication  is  not  libelous  unless  it  is  possible 
to  identify  the  person  defamed.  Thus  it  is  not  libel- 
ous to  say  that  every  lawyer  is  a  scoundrel  and  every 
doctor  a  charlatan;  but  if  a  particular  attorney  or 
physician  can  show  that  the  charge  was  meant  to 
apply  to  him  personally,  and  that  readers  so  under- 
stood it,  he  has  a  legal  right  to  damages.  It  is  not 
necessary  that  the  offense  be  definitely  stated. 

It  is  quite  immaterial  what  meaning  the  writer 
meant  his  words  to  convey.  Whether  the  utterance 
is  libelous  or  not  depends  entirely  upon  how  the 
ordinary  reader  understands  it.  It  is  no  defense  that 
the  publication  was  made  in  jest,  or  that  the  defendant 
was  intoxicated.  Insanity,  however,  is  a  complete  de- 
fense. The  writer  or  publisher  will  not  be  allowed  to 
plead  that  he  did  not  know  the  words  were  libelous. 
If  witnesses  can  be  brought  forward  to  testify  that 
to  their  minds  the  words  were  such  as  to  induce  an 
ill  opinion  of  the  plaintiff  or  make  him  seem  con- 
temptible or  ridiculous,  then  the  plaintiff  has  a  case 
and  can  secure  a  verdict,  provided  he  can  convince  a 
jury  of  the  falsity  of  the  charges.  If  the  editor  can 
show  that  the  publication  was  made  without  any 
wrongful  intent  it  may  mitigate  the  amount  of  dam- 
ages, though  it  can  not  prevent  the  plaintiff  from 
recovering  the  full  amount  of  any  actual  financial  loss 
he  can  prove  he  has  sustained. 

When  the  alleged  libel  comes  under  the  law  of 
privileged  publications,  the  question  of  intent  or  mal- 
ice becomes  important,  for  a  privileged  publication  is 
not  actionable  even  if  false  unless  it  appears  that  the 
writer  or  publisher  was  actuated  by  express  ill  will. 
This  is  a  large  concession,  and  it  is  important  that 
every  newspaper  man  should  know  the  scope  and 
limits  of  the  power  it  confers.  In  the  first  place  it 

230 


THE   LAW   OF   LIBEL 

should  be  understood  that  an  editor  or  reporter  has 
no  more  freedom  of  criticism  than  any  other  citizen. 
Every  one  has  a  right  to  comment  on  matters  of  pub- 
lic concern,  provided  he  does  it  with  fairness  and  an 
honest  purpose.  The  law  of  privileged  publications 
is  a  widening  of  the  scope  of  criticism  on  public  mat- 
ters for  the  public  good.  This  is  what  gives  news- 
papers the  right  to  criticize  public  officers  fearlessly 
(and  sometimes  scandalously),  to  publish  the  news  of 
the  courts,  and  to  pass  judgment  upon  books,  plays, 
and  works  of  art. 

The  liberty  thus  allowed,  however,  is  limited  to 
criticism  and  does  not  include  the  statement  of  facts 
otherwise  actionable.  An  editor  who  charges  an 
alderman  with  accepting  bribes  is  making  an  action- 
able statement,  and  may  be  compelled  to  pay  damages 
if  he  fail  to  prove  his  charges.  It  is  actionable  to  ask 
a  corrupt  official  or  political  boss  "  where  he  got  it," 
but  the  guilty  ones  usually  take  good  care  not  to 
carry  the  subject  into  court.  In  comments  upon  pub- 
lic matters  and  men  it  is  only  where  the  publisher 
goes  beyond  the  limits  of  fair  criticism  that  his  lan- 
guage passes  into  the  region  of  libel  at  all,  and  the 
question  whether  these  limits  have  been  transcended 
is  one  for  the  jury.  Charges  imputing  a  criminal 
offense  or  a  moral  delinquency  to  a  public  officer,  if 
false,  can  not  be  privileged,  though  the  editor  has 
made  them  in  good  faith. 

How  far  may  the  editor  lawfully  go  in  criticizing 
a  candidate  for  public  office?  Whenever  a  man  con- 
sents to  run  for  an  elective  position,  every  elector  has 
the  right  to  discuss  such  man's  fitness  and  communi- 
cate to  others  any  facts  or  opinions  he  may  possess 
regarding  the  candidate's  character  and  conduct,  pro- 
viding he  states  as  fact  only  the  truth  and  as  opinion 

231 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

only  honest  belief.  This  defines  the  scope  of  the  ed- 
itor's rights  and  duties  in  the  matter.  If  he  publish 
falsehoods  against  the  candidate,  imputing  to  him  a 
criminal  offense,  he  will  not  be  shielded  by  the  law 
of  privilege.  If  he  wish  to  establish  the  fact  that 
the  man  has  a  bad  record  and  has  been  guilty  of 
criminality  of  any  kind  in  the  past,  he  may  do  so 
with  impunity  if  he  has  absolute  proof  to  substan- 
tiate his  charges;  otherwise  he  does  it  at  his  peril. 
Where  the  law  of  privilege  applies,  it  protects  the 
publication  of  opinion,  even  when  false,  but  not  a 
false  statement  of  fact.  Even  in  privileged  matter 
damages  can  be  secured  if  it  can  be  proved  that  the 
communication  was  made  with  malice  and  not  in  good 
faith  and  for  the  public  good. 

The  idea  prevails  among  many  newspaper  writers 
that  the  libelous  nature  of  a  publication  can  be  miti- 
gated by  interpolating  such  words  as  "  alleged,"  or 
"  it  is  said,"  or  "  according  to  report,"  or  some  other 
circumlocution  throwing  the  responsibility  upon 
somebody  else.  This  idea  is  wholly  erroneous.  If 
a  statement  be  libelous  without  the  use  of  the  word 
"  alleged  "  it  is  equally  libelous  with  it.  Nor  is  the 
crediting  of  an  actionable  statement  to  another  paper 
or  to  some  speaker  any  protection  for  the  man  who 
publishes  it.  A  publisher  can  be  sued  for  an  article 
credited  to  an  exchange  just  as  easily  as  for  one 
written  in  his  own  office.  It  makes  no  difference 
whether  the  original  publisher  be  sued  or  not ;  that  is 
a  matter  for  the  plaintiff  to  determine  as  he  pleases. 
The  reckless  repetition  of  a  mere  rumor,  even  against 
a  candidate  for  office,  without  any  attempt  at  investi- 
gation of  its  truth  or  probability,  will  not  be  protected 
by  the  rule  of  privileged  publications.  Every  paper 
is  responsible  for  what  it  prints,  no  matter  what  the 

232 


THE   LAW   OF   LIBEL 

source  may  be.  Plastering  "  alleged  "  all  over  a  story 
merely  proclaims  that  the  paper  is  purveying  irre- 
sponsible gossip  of  a  defamatory  nature;  it  does  not 
protect  anybody  from  the  consequences  thereof. 

"  A  man/'  says  one  good  authority,  "  can  not  law- 
fully publish  a  story  of  another  which  is  calculated  to 
make  him  contemptible  or  ridiculous  in  the  eyes  of  his 
associates  or  acquaintances,  though  he  accompanies 
the  publication  with  a  statement  of  his  disbelief  in  the 
story." 

There  are  three  chief  classes  of  privileged  mat- 
ter, namely:  comment  on  public  men  and  measures, 
reports  of  judicial  and  legislative  proceedings,  and 
criticisms  of  literary  and  art  productions.  The  special 
protection  granted  to  the  press  in  such  cases  consists 
in  the  fact  that  the  usual  assumption  of  the  law — that 
every  defamatory  publication  is  prompted  by  malice — 
does  not  apply.  So  long  as  the  report  is  made  fairly 
and  in  good  faith  no  harm  can  come  to  the  paper 
through  the  courts.  This  valuable  right  of  free  news 
and  free  criticism  is  the  foundation  of  the  real  power 
of  the  American  newspaper  press.  Unfortunately  the 
right  is  sometimes  abused,  but  the  press  is  improving 
in  this  respect. 

The  law  aims  to  encourage  full  reports  of  judicial 
proceedings,  but  it  is  not  allowable  to  print  a  report 
if  the  court  prohibits  it.  Nor  will  the  privilege  pro- 
tect blasphemous  or  indecent  matter  contained  in  a 
true  report,  as,  for  instance,  in  that  of  a  divorce  case. 
The  report  must  be  fair  and  accurate,  and  it  must  be 
in  the  nature  of  news,  not  comment.  All  comment  on 
court  matters  should  be  reserved  for  the  editorial 
columns.  Then  if  it  arouses  any  objection  it  will 
make  less  trouble  than  if  it  appeared  in  the  news  col- 
umns or  in  the  head-lines. 

233 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

It  is  actionable  for  a  reporter,  in  writing  his  story, 
to  intimate  that  the  testimony  of  a  witness  is  false,  or 
a  ruling  of  the  judge  unfair,  or  to  pass  judgment  in 
any  way  upon  the  proceedings  or  the  probable  out- 
come of  the  trial.  It  is  allowable  to  condense  the 
report,  but  the  condensation  must  be  fairly  done.  The 
paper  forfeits  the  protection  of  the  law  of  privilege  if 
it  picks  out  the  defamatory  matter  in  the  testimon> 
and  publishes  that  alone.  If  the  report  involves  testi- 
mony that  defames  persons  not  parties  to  the  proceed- 
ings, it  is  still  privileged  if  the  report  be  accurate  and 
impartial.  But  defamatory  remarks  by  an  attorney 
uttered  in  court  without  evidence  or  explanation, 
should  be  reported  with  caution,  for  the  aegis  of  the 
privilege  doesvnot  cover  them.  A  Pennsylvania  paper 
reported  the  speech  of  a  lawyer  who  said  a  certain 
man  was  a  swindler  and  could  not  be  believed  upon 
oath.  The  paper  was  found  guilty  of  libel,  and  the 
judge  said :  "  The  speech  of  counsel  in  judicial  pro- 
ceedings does  not  afford  matter  for  a  privileged  publi- 
cation, and  if  it  contain  scandalous  and  defamatory 
matter  a  prosecution  for  libel  will  be  maintained." 

If  a  report  be  written  by  a  regular  reporter  the 
presumption  will  be  that  it  was  published  without 
malice.  If  it  be  prepared  by  a  lawyer  interested  in 
the  case  the  jury  will  take  it  for  granted  that  the 
report  is  biased  and  unfair.  The  danger  in  employing 
an  interested  lawyer  to  report  a  case  is  apparent. 

When  a  libel  affects  any  of  the  parties  in  a  judicial 
trial  it  becomes  contempt  of  court.  Any  comment  of 
the  press  that  seems  to  the  court  to  seek  to  influence 
the  outcome  of  the  trial  may  be  punished  as  con- 
tempt. It  is  allowable  to  print  temperate  editorial 
comment  on  a  case,  even  while  pending,  but  experi- 
enced editors  have  learned  to  be  very  cautious  and 

234 


THE   LAW   OF   LIBEL 

non-committal  on  such  subjects.  A  judge  can  con- 
strue as  contempt  any  article  which  he  may  regard 
as  tending  to  prejudice  the  jury  or  the  public,  and  he 
can  place  the  offending  editor  or  reporter  on  trial. 
If  it  be  found  that  the  writer  has  criticized  the  court 
or  any  of  its  officers  unjustly  or  intemperately,  or  has 
published  a  false  or  unfair  account  of  the  case  during 
its  pendency,  the  offender  may  be  imprisoned  or  fined 
for  contempt  of  court.  The  cases  where  newspaper 
men  most  frequently  get  into  trouble  of  this  kind  are 
those  in  which  they  have  cast  reflections  on  the  con- 
duct of  witnesses,  parties,  counsel,  judges,  or  juries 
during  the  pendency  of  a  case.  To  prophesy  what  the 
court  is  going  to  do  in  a  certain  case  may  be  punished 
as  contempt,  especially  if  the  comment  be  derogatory. 

The  proceedings  of  every  court,  whether  of  a  jus- 
tice of  the  peace  or  of  a  court  of  record,  may  be 
reported  under  the  same  privilege,  provided  the  court 
be  held  with  open  doors  and  the  proceeding  be  not 
ex  parte.  The  proceedings  of  a  town  council  may  be 
reported  the  same  as  those  of  a  court,  even  though 
they  include  defamatory  matter,  provided  the  report 
be  substantially  true.  The  same  applies  to  State  legis- 
latures, to  the  houses  of  Congress,  and  to  other  public 
deliberative  bodies.  But  whether  this  exemption  from 
liability  applies  to  political  and  other  public  meetings 
is  still  unsettled. 

The  proceedings  of  a  grand  jury  are  not  legiti- 
mate news  matter  and  will  not  be  privileged  if  pub- 
lished. Such  deliberations  become  proper  news  matter 
only  when  the  indictment  has  been  returned  into 
court.  The  report  of  the  execution  of  a  criminal 
does  not  come  within  the  privilege.  A  murderer 
made  a  speech  from  the  scaffold  in  which  he  falsely 
charged  his  counsel  with  having  mismanaged  the  case. 

235 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

His  speech  was  reported  in  a  New  York  paper  and 
the  lawyer  recovered  damages.  It  is  now  fairly  well 
settled  that  the  privilege  extends  to  arrests,  so  long 
as  the  reports  do  not  assume  the  guilt  of  the  accused 
and  are  not  defamatory  in  other  respects.  In  a  Maine 
case  it  was  held  that  to  say  a  man  has  been  arrested 
for  drunkenness  does  not  amount  to  saying  he  was 
drunk.  Thus  if  the  writer  can  prove  that  the  man 
was  arrested,  even  if  the  arrest  was  unwarranted,  his 
defense  will  be  good.  But  if  the  writer  goes  beyond 
the  mere  fact  of  arrest  and  assumes  that  the  person 
is  guilty  of  the  offense,  the  publication  will  not  be 
privileged.  Within  the  same  limitations  it  is  allowable 
to  state  that  a  warrant  has  been  sworn  out  for  the 
arrest  of  a  person  suspected  of  crime. 

There  is  especial  danger  in  the  head-lines  in  cases 
of  this  kind.  The  desire  of  the  head-line  writer  to 
cram  the  gist  of  the  story  into  a  limited  number  of 
words  often  leads  him  to  make  bald  assertions  which 
sacrifice  the  privileged  character  of  the  publication. 
Many  an  article  which  otherwise  would  be  harmless 
is  rendered  libelous  by  the  heading  over  it.  For  ex- 
ample, a  New  York  paper  published  a  report  stating 
that  one  Edsall  had  been  dismissed  from  the  police 
force  on  a  charge  of  blackmail.  This  report  itself 
would  have  been  privileged,  but  it  was  headed 
"  Blackmailing  by  a  Policeman,"  and  the  court  held 
that  this  title  destroyed  the  claim  of  privilege. 

All  public  or  semipublic  business  projects  that 
depend  upon  popular  favor  or  confidence  are  legiti- 
mate objects  of  newspaper  criticism  and  are  covered 
by  the  privilege.  Thus  the  management  of  railway 
and  insurance  companies,  banks,  boards  of  trade, 
charitable  organizations,  and  public  fairs  may  be  crit- 
icized so  long  as  the  writer  acts  in  good  faith  and  does 

236 


THE   LAW   OF   LIBEL 

not  seek  to  make  the  law  of  privilege  a  cloak  for 
defamation  of  character.  Public  criticism  is  chal- 
lenged whenever  an  individual  or  a  company  invites 
public  attention  in  any  way,  as  when  a  man  delivers 
lectures,  or  sells  patent  medicines,  or  advertises  any 
business  enterprise.  The  newspaper  is  a  guardian  of 
the  public  welfare  under  our  system.  Hence  it  has 
the  right  to  criticize  everything  of  a  public  nature. 
The  true  test  of  a  question  of  privilege  is  stated  thus 
by  a  leading  authority :  "  Would  the  publication,  if 
true,  tend  to  promote  the  public  good?  Then  if 
false,  but  published  without  malice,  it  should  be  pro- 
tected by  the  law  of  privilege." 

Criticism  of  literature,  the  drama,  music,  or  art 
is  fully  protected  by  the  law  of  privilege.  The  book 
reviewer  may  slash  to  his  heart's  content  without  fear 
of  a  libel  suit,  so  long  as  he  makes  no  misstatements 
of  material  facts  and  does  not  attack  the  personal 
character  of  the  author.  It  is  well  settled  by  innumer- 
able precedents  that  an  author,  artist,  musician,  or 
book  publisher  can  not  recover  damages  for  the  stric- 
tures of  a  critic  upon  his  work,  no  matter  how  much 
pecuniary  loss  he  may  suffer  in  consequence.  This 
continues  to  be  true  even  where  the  critic  is  unjust. 
But  the  reviewer  is  not  privileged  to  attack  the  per- 
sonal reputation  of  the  author.  It  is  libelous  to  say 
that  an  author  lies,  or  to  impugn  his  motives  in  wri- 
ting his  book.  James  Fenimore  Cooper,  the  novel- 
ist, established  the  rights  of  authors  in  this  respect 
through  a  remarkable  series  of  libel  suits  which  he 
argued  in  court  himself,  winning  a  substantial  verdict 
in  nearly  every  case.  A  New  York  editor,  in  review- 
ing one  of  Cooper's  novels,  said :  "  We  were  certainly 
not  prepared  to  find  that  the  infatuation  of  vanity  or 
the  madness  of  passion  could  lead  him  to  pervert  such 
17  237 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

an  opportunity  to  the  low  and  paltry  purpose  of  bol- 
stering up  the  character  of  a  political  partizan  and 
official  sycophant."  The  editor  had  to  pay  $300  for 
the  article. 

The  same  limits  apply  to  criticism  of  art,  music, 
and  the  drama.  It  should  be  noted,  however,  that 
private  theatricals  or  private  art  exhibits  are  not  sub- 
jects of  privileged  comment,  because  they  do  not  con- 
cern the  general  public.  Another  important  excep- 
tion exists  in  regard  to  comments  upon  candidates 
for  an  appointive  office.  When  an  officer  is  to  be 
elected  by  public  suffrage,  his  qualifications  may  be 
discussed  in  the  press;  but  when  an  appointment  Is 
to  be  made  by  a  board  of  a  limited  number,  such  as  a 
city  council,*  charges  of  the  candidate's  unfitness 
should  be  made  to  the  appointive  power  and  not  to 
the  public  at  large.  Criticisms  of  candidates  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  a  mayor,  governor,  or  president  fall  in  the 
same  category.  There  is  no  good  reason  why  such 
publications  should  not  be  privileged  the  same  as  the 
others,  but  the  law  at  present  affords  no  protection 
for  them,  and  it  is  well  to  realize  the  fact. 

Seditious  libel  tending  to  subvert  the  public  peace 
may  result  in  the  suppression  of  a  paper,  but  such 
cases  are  rare  and  usually  belong  to  war  times. 

There  are  three  effective  pleas  of  defense  in  libel 
proceedings,  namely,  that  the  thing  complained  of 
is  not  defamatory,  that  it  is  true,  or  that  it  is  privi- 
leged. Writers  would  do  well  to  avoid  publishing 
any  statement  that  can  not  with  certainty  be  defended 
on  one  of  these  lines. 

Technically  every  man  connected  in  any  way  with 
the  publication  of  a  libel  is  responsible  for  it,  including 
the  reporter,  copy  reader,  managing  editor,  publisher, 
compositor,  pressman,  distributor,  news  dealer,  and 

238 


THE   LAW   OF   LIBEL 

newsboy  on  the  street.  It  is  libelous  even  to  read 
the  offensive  article  aloud  to  others.  But  as  a  matter 
of  practise  the  less  responsible  parties,  such  as  the 
pressman  and  carriers,  are  not  held  accountable  unless 
it  can  be  shown  that  they  assisted  knowingly  in  pub- 
lishing the  libel.  The  action  may  be  brought  against 
one,  two,  or  all  of  the  responsible  parties,  but  as  a 
matter  of  fact  the  publisher  is  nearly  always  singled 
out  to  bear  the  consequences  alone.  This  is  especially 
true  in  civil  suits,  since  he  is  the  one  most  likely  to 
have  money,  and  since  he  is  always  legally  responsible 
in  such  suits.  He  is  responsible  even  though  the  mat- 
ter was  inserted  in  defiance  of  his  express  orders. 
From  the  publisher's  point  of  view  this  seems  not 
quite  just,  especially  as  he  can  not  recover  anything 
from  the  employee  who  made  the  trouble ;  but  he  at 
least  has  the  recourse  of  discharging  the  offending 
editor  or  reporter. 

The  responsibility  of  the  proprietor  grows  out  of 
the  legal  doctrine  that  a  principal  must  answer  for 
the  acts  of  his  agent  within  the  general  scope  of  the 
authority  he  has  conferred  upon  the  agent.  Thus  in 
a  Michigan  case  the  court  ruled  that  where  a  propri- 
etor of  a  paper  has  retained  employees  who  ought 
not  to  have  been  kept  he  is  liable  in  punitive  damages 
if  through  recklessness  or  malice  of  such  employee 
a  libel  has  been  published.  In  every  case  a  party  who 
has  been  actuated  by  malice  is  himself  subject  to 
punitive  damages,  but  the  publisher  usually  is  the 
one  who  suffers.  The  proprietor  of  a  newspaper,  in 
the  words  of  Townshend,  "  may  be  compared  to  one 
who  keeps  a  dangerous  animal,  and  who  is  bound  so 
to  keep  it  that  it  does  no  harm.  If  harm  ensues,  he 
must  answer  for  it." 

A  person  who  has  been  libeled  may  sue  any  or 

239 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

all  of  those  responsible  for  the  publication,  but  in  no 
case  can  he  secure  a  larger  total  of  damages  than  he 
could  secure  from  one  defendant  alone.  The  law 
requires  that  he  state  definitely  the  amount  of  dam- 
ages sought,  and  he  usually  takes  good  care  to  see 
that  the  sum  named  is  not  too  small.  When  partners 
publish  a  paper,  a  libelous  publication  by  one  of  the 
partners  makes  each  equally  liable  for  a  part  or  the 
whole  of  the  damages.  A  corporation  can  sue  or  be 
sued  for  libel  exactly  as  an  individual.  When  several 
persons  are  sued  jointly,  the  paying  of  the  fine  by  one 
of  the  defendants  wipes  out  the  score  against  the 
others.  A  defendant  against  whom  damages  have 
been  recovered  can  not  compel  another  person  who 
might  have  been  sued  jointly  with  him,  but  who  was 
not  sued,  to  pay  any  share  of  the  damages.  It  is  a 
legal  maxim  that  "  there  is  no  contribution  among 
wrong-doers."  Thus  if  a  publisher  be  compelled  to 
pay  damages  for  the  negligent  or  malicious  act  of 
an  editor  he  can  not  compel  the  editor  to  reimburse 
him  for  the  loss.  Likewise,  if  a  reporter  suffer  fine 
or  imprisonment  for  something  he  has  written  under 
the  orders  of  a  superior,  he  is  without  redress.  He 
is  not  even  allowed  to  plead  in  court  that  he  acted 
under  another's  orders. 

The  proprietor  is  responsible  for  his  advertising 
columns  the  same  as  for  the  news  or  editorial  col- 
umns. The  "  classified  ads  "  especially  require  watch- 
ing. The  New  York  Herald  once  had  a  verdict  of 
$10,000  damages  awarded  against  it  for  publishing  an 
advertisement  worded  thus :  "  The  blackmailing  crowd 
in  West  Twenty-fifth  Street  had  better  beware,  cau- 
tious 51-53."  The  woman  who  kept  a  boarding- 
house  at  that  address  proved  that  her  business  was 
injured. 

240 


THE   LAW   OF   LIBEL 

If  you  are  a  newspaper  proprietor  and  a  man 
comes  to  you  with  a  communication  or  an  advertise- 
ment which  you  think  may  be  libelous,  offering  to 
give  you  a  written  contract  to  reimburse  you  for  any 
loss  you  may  sustain  through  a  libel  suit,  such  con- 
tract will  be  void.  You  will  suffer,  and  the  other 
man  can  not  be  compelled  to  pay  a  cent.  In  the  same 
way  a  reporter,  if  fined  for  a  libel  which  his  em- 
ployer ordered  him  to  write,  can  not  recover  indem- 
nity from  the  employer,  even  though  the  latter  has 
agreed  in  writing  to  pay  such  indemnity. 

The  maximum  penalty  in  case  of  criminal  libel  is 
six  months  or  a  year  of  imprisonment,  varying  in  the 
different  States.  There  is  no  limit  to  the  amount  of 
damages  that  can  be  asked  for  in  a  civil  action,  but 
the  verdict  is  usually  very  much  smaller  than  the  sum 
demanded.  Civil  suits  are  more  numerous  than  crim- 
inal prosecutions,  the  number  being  swelled  by  what 
may  be  called  speculative  libel  suits,  in  which  foolish 
or  unprincipled  persons  try  to  make  money  out  of  the 
alleged  damage  to  their  characters.  Many  libel  suits 
are  practically  blackmailing  schemes.  Fortunately 
suits  of  this  kind  are  rarely  profitable,  except  to  the 
rascally  lawyers  who  encourage  them.  Many  a  plain- 
tiff, even  though  nominally  successful,  has  bitterly  re- 
gretted that  he  ever  issued  his  writ.  It  would  be 
well  if  the  public  could  be  made  to  realize  that  an 
action  for  libel  is  a  dangerous  experiment.  In  a  large 
majority  of  cases  the  plaintiff  in  a  civil  suit,  after 
advertising  to  all  the  world  that  he  is  willing  to  sell 
his  reputation  for  money,  discovers  that  his  reputa- 
tion won't  bring  enough  after  all  to  pay  his  counsel 
fees.  When  it  is  really  necessary  to  have  redress  for  a 
libel  it  is  usually  much  wiser  to  seek  vindication 
through  criminal  proceedings  than  to  sue  for  damages 

241 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

in  a  civil  action.  But  the  lawyer  with  an  eye  to  a  bill 
of  costs  will  give  different  advice. 

The  worst  injustice  to  newspapers  in  this  connec- 
tion is  not  in  the  verdicts  of  juries  but  in  the  fact  that 
any  irresponsible  person  can  put  the  paper  to  the 
expense  of  a  libel  suit.  The  average  cost  of  defending 
a  suit  is  $500.  The  Philadelphia  Times  once  stated 
that  it  had  paid  more  than  $20,000  for  the  defense 
of  libel  suits  in  the  first  thirteen  years  of  its  career, 
though  the  verdict  was  for  the  paper  in  every  case. 
The  California  statute  guards  against  this  mulcting 
of  newspapers  on  frivolous  charges  by  requiring  a 
plaintiff  to  furnish  a  bond  for  $500  insuring  the  pay- 
ment of  costs  and  charges  if  he  fail  to  prove  his  case. 

In  the  majority  of  States  the  action  must  be 
brought  within  one  year  after  the  publication  of  the 
libelous  matter.  In  nineteen  States  and  Territories 
the  limit  is  two  years.  In  two  States  it  is  three  years. 
Every  newspaper  man  should  read  the  libel  laws  of 
his  own  commonwealth.  Unless  otherwise  provided 
in  the  statutes,  an  action  for  libel  abates  upon  the 
death  of  either  party.  Under  American  and  English 
law  a  deceased  person  can  not  be  libeled,  but  it  is 
different  under  French  law.  It  has  been  held  in  Que- 
bec that  an  action  may  be  maintained  for  defamation 
of  a  deceased  ancestor. 

The  person  who  gives  libelous  matter  to  a  re- 
porter may  be  held  legally  responsible  for  it,  even 
though  the  reporter  does  not  use  exactly  the  original 
language.  The  publisher  may  be  required  to  reveal 
the  name  of  the  author  of  a  libel.  To  prove  the 
responsibility  of  a  writer  of  libelous  matter  it  is  neces- 
sary to  produce  the  original  manuscript  or  account 
for  its  absence.  If  the  manuscript  happens  to  have 
been  destroyed,  however,  or  if  it  is  in  the  defendant's 

242 


THE   LAW   OF   LIBEL 

hands  and  he  refuses  to  give  it  up,  a  copy  of  the 
newspaper  containing  the  libel  may  be  introduced  in 
evidence.  To  prove  that  the  defendant  is  the  author 
of  the  libel  it  is  sufficient  to  show  that  he  threatened 
to  write  such  an  article.  If  the  plaintiff  authorized 
the  publication  complained  of  he  can  not  recover. 

Every  published  copy  of  a  paper  containing  a  libel 
constitutes  a  separate  offense.  The  jury  must  assess 
the  damage  once  for  all,  but  if  the  publisher  con- 
tinues to  sell  papers  after  he  is  sued  he  can  be  held 
for  further  damages.  An  apology  printed  after  the 
suit  is  filed  does  not  count,  while  a  repetition  of  libel- 
ous  words,  of  course,  gives  ground  for  a  fresh  action. 

No  amount  of  editorial  care  can  insure  absolute 
immunity  against  libel  suits  on  an  enterprising  paper, 
but  a  reasonable  degree  of  intelligent  watchfulness 
can  obviate  any  suits  that  will  be  decided  adversely 
to  the  paper.  Especially  can  criminal  libels  and  the 
payment  of  "  vindictive  "  or  "  punitive  "  damages  be 
avoided  by  never  giving  utterance  to  malice  and  by 
promptly  discharging  any  reporter  or  editor  who 
shows  a  tendency  to  exploit  his  private  enmities 
through  the  columns  of  the  paper.  Freedom  of  the 
press  does  not  mean  freedom  to  print  whatever  occurs 
to  the  imaginative,  vindictive,  vituperative,  or  mali- 
cious mind.  Freedom  is  not  license.  The  ambition 
to  make  a  newspaper  sprightly  should  be  curbed  by 
the  bit  of  truth,  freed  from  "  malice,  envy,  hate,  and 
all  uncharitableness." 


243 


XVII 

THE  LAW  OF  COPYRIGHT 

COPYRIGHT  matters  are  of  less  importance  to  news- 
paper men  than  to  book  publishers,  but  questions 
arise  at  times  in  every  editorial  office  demanding  accu- 
rate knowledge  of  the  law  on  this  subject.  What 
proportion  of  a  copyrighted  book  or  poem  may  one 
quote  with  safety  in  a  newspaper?  Where  is  the  line 
between  legitimate  quotation  and  piracy?  Under 
what  circumstances  may  an  American  editor  reprint 
an  article  or  a  tale  from  an  English  periodical  or 
book  under  the  new  international  copyright  law? 
These  and  a  score  of  other  questions  must  be  an- 
swered, and  answered  correctly,  by  the  successful 
newspaper  writer  and  publisher. 

In  the  first  place  it  should  be  understood  that  the 
common  law  gives  every  man  a  property  right  in  his 
intellectual  production  before  it  has  been  published 
and  before  it  has  been  copyrighted  under  the  statute. 
Thus  when  a  writer  sends  the  manuscript  of  a  new 
story  to  an  editor  for  inspection,  with  the  understand- 
ing that  it  is  to  be  paid  for  if  used,  the  editor  can 
be  punished  in  the  courts  if  he  prints  it  under  the 
name  of  some  other  author  or  attempts  in  other  ways 
to  appropriate  the  writer's  work  without  compensa- 
tion. Such  theft  of  an  unpublished  writing  can  be 
punished  the  same  as  theft  of  other  property.  In  the 
same  way  a  newspaper  or  a  news  association  has  a 

244 


THE   LAW   OF   COPYRIGHT 

common  law  right  in  the  news  it  gathers  until  the 
matter  has  been  published.  This  invisible  kind  of 
copyright  protects  the  unpublished  works  of  every 
author  precisely  as  his  household  furniture  is  pro- 
tected from  appropriation  by  another. 

This  common  law  protection  ends,  however,  the 
moment  a  writing  is  published.  From  that  point  it 
becomes  necessary  to  secure  the  protection  of  the 
copyright  statute;  otherwise  the  author's  ownership 
in  his  product  ceases  and  the  matter  becomes  the 
property  of  the  public.  It  is  well  to  note  what  con- 
stitutes publication.  To  give  away  a  manuscript  copy 
of  a  book  is  not  to  publish  it,  nor  does  the  reading 
of  a  lecture  or  the  playing  of  a  drama  constitute  pub- 
lication. But  a  thing  is  published,  of  course,  when 
printed  copies,  however  few,  are  sold  unconditionally 
to  the  public.  From  that  time  forth  it  becomes  pub- 
lic property  and  can  be  reprinted  and  sold  by  any- 
body who  chooses  to  do  so,  while  neither  the  author 
nor  anybody  else  can  copyright  it. 

When  an  author  prints  a  book  in  serial  form  with- 
out attending  to  the  formalities  required  by  the  copy- 
right law  he  forfeits  his  ownership  of  the  book.  If 
he  prints  a  part  of  his  book  serially  without  the  copy- 
right mark  on  it,  while  the  rest  is  properly  labeled, 
it  becomes  permissible  for  anybody  to  reprint  the  por- 
tion not  covered,  but  no  more.  It  is  quite  well  set- 
tled that  a  title  can  not  be  copyrighted  in  this  coun- 
try ;  the  courts  can  not  be  depended  upon  to  consider 
it  piracy  if  the  title  of  a  book  be  the  only  portion 
taken.  A  newspaper  or  magazine  may  be  copyrighted 
the  same  as  a  book,  but  the  process  must  be  repeated 
with  each  issue.  A  production  that  has  no  value  ex- 
cept as  a  mere  advertising  medium  can  not  be  copy- 
righted; but  if  it  can  be  shown  that  it  also  has  some 

245 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

literary  or  artistic  value  it  is  a  legitimate  subject  of 
copyright  protection. 

A  translation  can  be  copyrighted,  though  the 
original  was  not;  but  this  does  not  prevent  the  ma- 
king of  other  translations  from  the  same  original,  so 
long  as  the  copyrighted  translation  is  not  pirated. 
When  an  author  publishes  his  work  in  a  foreign  coun- 
try without  having  copyrighted  it  in  the  United  States 
it  becomes  the  common  property  of  Americans.  Thus 
every  British  magazine  that  does  not  bear  the  notice 
of  an  American  copyright  is  open  to  appropriation 
by  publishers  in  this  country.  They  are  free  to  use 
the  whole  or  any  part  of  its  contents,  and  British 
publishers  have  the  same  privilege  with  American 
publications  that  do  not  bear  the  notice  "  Entered 
at  Stationers'  Hall,  London."  Under  the  excel- 
lent international  copyright  law  now  in  existence 
between  these  two  countries,  a  British  book,  to  se- 
cure copyright  in  this  country,  must  be  printed  from 
type  set  by  American  labor  or  from  plates  made 
from  such  type.  It  is  desirable  to  have  the  dates  of 
publication  on  both  sides  of  the  water  coincide  as 
nearly  as  possible. 

Under  the  present  law,  in  order  to  secure  a  copy- 
right on  any  publication,  it  is  necessary  only  to  de- 
posit in  the  United  States  mails  a  printed  copy  of  the 
title  of  the  book  or  article,  with  the  name  of  the 
claimant  of  copyright,  addressed  to  "  The  Librarian  of 
Congress,  Washington,  D.  C,"  with  fifty  cents  as  the 
fee  for  recording  it.  Another  fifty  cents  should  be 
added  if  you  wish  to  receive  a  certificate  of  copyright, 
though  this  is  not  necessary  so  far  as  the  validity  of 
the  copyright  is  concerned.  The  printed  title  required 
by  the  law  may  be  a  copy  of  the  title  page  of  such 
publications  as  have  title  pages.  In  other  cases  the 

246 


THE   LAW   OF   COPYRIGHT 

title  must  be  printed  expressly  for  copyright  entry, 
with  name  of  claimant  of  copyright.  The  print  of  a 
typewriter  will  be  accepted.  A  separate  title  is  re- 
quired for  each  entry,  and  each  title  must  be  printed 
on  paper  as  large  as  commercial  note.  Thus,  in  copy- 
righting a  number  of  stories  in  the  same  issue  of  a 
newspaper,  a  separate  sheet  is  required  for  each  title. 
The  title  of  a  periodical  must  include  the  date  and 
number;  and  each  number  of  the  periodical  requires 
a  separate  entry  and  fee. 

The  moment  the  letter  writh  these  enclosures  is 
started  on  its  way  to  Washington  it  becomes  lawful 
to  publish  the  work  in  question  with  the  notice  of 
copyright  upon  it.  This  notice  must  be  worded  in 
one  of  two  ways.  Either  it  must  read,  "  Entered, 
according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  19 — ,  by  — , 
in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washing- 
ton," or,  "  Copyright,  19 — ,  by  — ."  There  is  no 
copyright  if  the  year  or  the  name  be  omitted.  Thus 
a  book  or  picture  marked  "  Copyrighted,"  or  "  Copy- 
right by  John  Jones,"  or  "  Copyright,  1903,"  is  not 
protected  by  the  law.  The  notice  "  All  rights  re- 
served "  is  worthless  if  it  stands  alone,  and  is  super- 
fluous if  it  accompanies  a  copyright  notice.  The 
copyright  of  a  story  protects  the  dramatic  rights  and 
the  right  of  translation  without  any  special  notice  of 
the  fact.  The  law  imposes  a  penalty  of  $100  for 
using  the  copyright  notice  on  matter  that  has  not 
been  copyrighted. 

To  complete  the  copyright  it  is  in  all  cases  further 
necessary  to  deliver  or  mail  to  the  Librarian  of  Con- 
gress two  copies  of  the  book  or  other  publication. 
These  copies  must  be  printed  from  type  set  within 
the  boundaries  of  the  United  States  or  from  plates 
made  therefrom.  When  these  simple  conditions  are 

247 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

complied  with,  the  copyright  is  complete  and  an  in- 
fringement  of  it  will  be  actionable. 

In  this  country  it  is  possible  to  copyright  a  book, 
map,  chart,  dramatic  or  musical  composition,  engra- 
ving, photograph,  cut,  print,  or  chromo ;  also  a  paint- 
ing, drawing,  piece  of  statuary,  or  a  model  or  design 
for  a  work  of  fine  art.  In  the  case  of  paintings,  draw- 
ings, etc.,  a  description  must  be  sent  to  the  Librarian 
of  Congress  in  the  first  communication,  and  two  pho- 
tographs of  the  copyrighted  product  must  be  sent  to 
complete  the  legal  protection.  The  copyright  warn- 
ing must  be  printed  on  the  title-page  of  a  book  or 
on  the  page  immediately  following.  It  must  be  on 
"  some  visible  portion  "  of  other  copyrighted  articles. 
By  the  terms  of  the  present  law  the  deposit  of  the  two 
copies  has  to  be  made  "  not  later  than  the  day  of 
publication."  If  some  of  the  copies  are  sold  to  the 
public  on  a  prior  day  it  invalidates  the  copyright. 

Each  number  of  a  newspaper  or  other  periodical 
is  considered  a  separate  publication,  so  that  the  fore- 
going process  must  be  gone  through  every  day  if  a 
daily  paper  is  to  be  kept  copyrighted.  The  same  is 
true  of  the  copyrighting  of  a  certain  column  of  news 
every  day,  such  as  the  London  cable  despatches.  To 
copyright  a  serial  story,  however,  it  is  necessary  to  do 
it  only  with  the  first  issue. 

The  copyright  holds  good  for  twenty-eight  years 
from  the  time  of  recording  the  title.  Within  six 
months  before  the  end  of  that  period,  the  author,  or 
his  widow  or  child  if  he  be  dead,  has  a  right  to  a 
renewal  for  the  further  term  of  fourteen  years.  If  he 
or  his  heirs  neglect  to  procure  the  renewal  the  pub- 
lication becomes  public  property.  A  total  of  forty- 
two  years  is  the  extreme  period  for  which  a  copyright 
can  be  held  in  the  United  States. 

248 


THE   LAW   OF   COPYRIGHT 

Infringement  consists  in  copying  the  whole  or  an 
essential  part  of  the  copyrighted  work.  There  can  be 
no  infringement  without  copying.  If  a  person,  while 
unacquainted  with  a  copyrighted  work,  by  his  own 
independent  labor  produces  something  similar,  there 
is  no  infringement.  Illegal  copying  is  not  necessarily 
limited  to  literal  reproduction.  In  the  words  of  the 
American  and  English  Encyclopedia  of  Law,  it  also 
includes  "  the  various  modes  by  which  matter  may 
be  adapted,  imitated,  or  transferred  with  more  or  less 
colorable  alteration  to  disguise  the  piracy."  A  copy- 
right does  not  cover  theories,  speculations,  or  opin- 
ions, however,  no  matter  how  original  these  may  be. 
Within  certain  limits  it  is  also  permissible  for  any 
writer  to  use  the  contents  of  copyrighted  books.  To 
define  the  exact  limit  where  permissible  borrowing 
becomes  piracy,  however,  is  extremely  difficult. 

The  question  is  not  determined  by  the  amount  of 
matter  taken,  though  this  is  important.  One  hears 
it  stated  sometimes  in  a  careless  way  that  it  is  always 
safe  to  take  one-third  of  a  magazine  article  or  less. 
If  this  be  true  it  is  a  matter  of  custom  and  courtesy, 
not  of  copyright  law.  Under  the  law  an  author  can 
bring  action  for  the  copying  of  three  lines  of  a  book, 
and  he  may  recover  damages  for  piracy  if  he  can 
prove  that  the  three  lines  are  an  essential  part  of  his 
work,  and  that  the  copy  of  them  has  diminished  his 
profits  by  superseding  the  original  work.  "  The 
question  of  piracy  in  all  cases  is  whether  a  material 
and  substantial  part  of  the  prior  work  has  been  taken." 
This  is  reasonably  definite.  An  editor  usually  can 
judge  quite  accurately  whether,  in  copying  a  part  of 
a  copyrighted  production,  he  is  taking  so  much  as  to 
diminish  sensibly  the  value  of  the  original  by  cre- 
ating a  substitute  for  it  and  thereby  reducing  the  sale 

249 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

of  it.  So  long  as  this  is  not  done  there  is  no  in- 
fringement. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  the  reprinting  of  the  whole 
of  a  copyrighted  poem  or  a  copyrighted  photograph 
might  easily  be  shown  to  be  injurious  piracy,  while 
the  copying  of  extracts  from  a  book  or  a  single  pic- 
ture from  an  illustrated  volume  might  not  be  ad- 
judged to  be  piracy.  It  all  depends  upon  the  copy- 
right holder's  ability  to  prove  that  he  has  suffered 
financial  injury — that  his  work  has  been  appropriated 
by  another  to  an  injurious  extent. 

This  sufficiently  accounts  for  the  book-reviewer's 
right  to  quote  liberally  from  a  book  in  criticizing  it. 
The  courts  allow  a  good  deal  of  license  in  such  use 
of  copyright  matter,  since  the  making  of  extracts  for 
purposes  of  comment  is  often  distinctly  beneficial  to 
the  sale  of  the  book  from  which  they  are  taken.  Pub- 
lishers are  almost  always  glad  to  have  a  newspaper 
reproduce  one  or  two  illustrations  from  a  book,  pro- 
vided due  credit  be  given.  In  such  cases  it  is  usually 
best  to  reproduce  the  original  copyright  notice  with 
the  borrowed  cut. 

In  the  same  way  it  is  permissible  for  one  author  to 
quote  from  another  for  the  purpose  of  illustrating  or 
enforcing  the  propositions  of  his  text.  But  much  less 
latitude  is  allowed  in  such  cases  than  in  reviewing  the 
book.  In  either  case  the  line  is  drawn  where  the 
copied  passages  become  a  more  or  less  complete 
substitute  for  the  original.  The  gist  of  piracy  lies 
in  the  affirmative  answer  to  the  question,  Are  the 
extracts  likely  to  injure  the  sale  of  the  original 
work?  So  long  as  they  do  not  in  any  degree  super- 
sede the  original  they  may  be  published  in  a  news- 
paper, magazine,  pamphlet,  or  book.  The  moment 
they  tend  to  form  a  substitute  for  the  original  they 

250 


THE    LAW   OF   COPYRIGHT 

become  piracy,  no  matter  in  what  form  they  are 
printed. 

The  law  aims  to  encourage  learning  by  allowing  a 
fair  use  to  be  made  of  a  copyrighted  work,  but  at  the 
same  time  to  prevent  a  subsequent  author  from  saving 
himself  labor  by  appropriating  without  consideration 
the  fruits  of  another's  toil.  The  original  sources  of 
a  copyrighted  work  are  always  open  to  all,  and  it  is 
allowable  to  use  the  copyrighted  work  as  a  guide  to 
find  the  original  material. 

Ignorance  is  no  defense  of  piracy.  If  a  man  re- 
prints a  pirated  copy  of  a  copyrighted  production  he 
may  be  called  to  account  the  same  as  if  he  had  been 
the  original  offender,  though  he  may  not  have  known 
that  the  matter  was  pirated.  Both  printer  and  pub- 
lisher are  equally  liable  to  the  owner  of  the  copy- 
right in  a  case  of  infringement.  There  are  three  reme- 
dies for  piracy :  an  action  of  debt  for  penalties  and 
forfeitures  prescribed  by  statute ;  a  suit  in  equity  for 
an  injunction ;  an  action  at  common  law  for  damages. 
The  injunction  is  resorted  to  only  in  flagrant  and 
urgent  cases.  There  is  a  rule  limiting  the  amount 
of  the  plaintiff's  damages  to  the  profits  which  the  de- 
fendant realized  by  his  piracy. 

By  keeping  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  law  inter- 
venes only  when  the  copy  is  such  as  to  damage  the 
sale  of  the  original  by  superseding  it,  any  question 
of  copyright  likely  to  arise  in  a  newspaper  office  is 
usually  not  hard  to  settle.  So  far  as  the  matter  of 
piracy  is  concerned,  it  makes  no  difference  whether 
the  name  of  the  author  or  his  book  be  mentioned  in 
connection  with  the  quotations  or  not.  That  is  a  ques- 
tion of  ethics — of  plagiarism — not  of  law.  Any  dam- 
age caused  by  adverse  comments  will  have  no  bearing 
on  a  copyright  case.  If  it  is  desired  to  make  any 

251 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

unusual  extracts  from  a  book,  such  as  the  quotation 
of  a  whole  chapter  or  the  reproduction  of  valuable 
illustrations,  it  is  always  both  courteous  and  wise  to 
write  and  ask  permission  from  the  owner  of  the  copy- 
right. With  the  use  of  a  little  consideration  and  a 
spirit  of  fairness  there  need  be  no  trouble  with  the 
copyright  question. 


252 


XVIII 

EPILOGUE 

FROM  the  facts  set  forth  in  the  foregoing  chapters 
the  beginner  should  be  able  to  know  whether  or  not  he 
desires  to  enlist  in  the  journalistic  army.  I  have  not 
belittled  the  difficulties  of  the  service ;  indeed,  in  the 
desire  to  be  unbiased  I  fear  I  may  not  have  done  full 
justice  to  the  rewards  and  inspirations  of  newspaper 
work.  American  journalism  is  an  inviting  field  for 
the  brightest  minds  of  the  rising  generation.  It  is  in 
the  prime  of  a  vigorous  and  noble  youth,  and  I  believe 
that  the  coming  decades  will  witness  a  steady  increase 
in  its  power  and  active  influence  for  human  betterment. 

The  growth  of  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  has 
placed  the  American  newspaper  press  in  advance  of 
that  of  every  other  nation  as  an  expression  of  contem- 
porary life.  As  a  whole,  it  is  closer  to  the  people,  dis- 
plays more  vigorous  enterprise,  has  a  finer  mechanical 
equipment,  and  has  more  capital  and  a  larger  income 
at  its  command  than  the  press  of  any  other  country. 
It  has  the  vivacity  of  the  French  journals,  without  their 
proneness  to  financial  corruption.  It  has  as  full  com- 
mand of  official  news  as  the  German  papers,  without 
being  the  tool  of  governmental  manipulators.  To  a 
large  degree  it  has  the  dignity  and  solid  worth  of  the 
British  journals,  without  their  ponderosity ;  while  in  its 
various  forms  it  represents  the  people  of  all  classes 
more  completely  and  sympathetically.  Its  faults  are 
18  253 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 

those  of  lusty  and  honest  youth.  Its  future  is  unques- 
tionably one  of  unsurpassed  power  and  prosperity. 

In  its  present  phase  the  American  newspaper  is  a 
mirror  of  the  happenings  and  popular  sentiment  of  its 
epoch,  showing  "  the  very  age  and  body  of  the  time 
his  form  and  pressure."  Its  effort  to  represent  every 
interest  and  hold  the  friendship  of  all  classes  has  made 
it  more  than  ever  a  bond  of  national  unity,  a  solvent 
of  class  antipathies,  an  umpire  between  laborer  and 
employer,  a  common  forum  where  highest  meets  low- 
est and  the  problems  of  the  nation  and  the  age  are 
solved.  The  democratic  spirit  has  no  stronger  ally  in 
the  world  than  the  newspaper  press  of  the  United 
States.  Under  its  surface  faults  it  carries  a  sound 
and  unwavering  loyalty  to  the  great  principles  of 
honesty  and  justice  on  which  national  greatness  must 
ever  rest. 

Journalism  has  never  before  offered  so  inspiring 
and  honorable  a  career  to  the  right  kind  of  young  men 
and  women  as  it  does  in  these  morning  hours  of  the 
twentieth  century.  Though  the  writing  is  for  the  most 
part  anonymous,  the  personality  of  the  reporter  must 
needs  help  to  shape  and  illumine  every  article,  giving 
tone  and  character  to  the  whole.  A  perfect  press  is 
not  possible  until  we  have  a  perfect  nation,  but  both 
will  advance  in  proportion  as  the  press  secures  a  high 
type  of  manhood  in  its  publishers,  editors,  and  re- 
porters. 

The  profession  is  calling  for  and  deserves  to  secure 
in  increasing  degree  the  service  of  cultivated  men  who, 
besides  possessing  the  graphic  faculties,  are  animated 
by  enthusiasm  for  their  chosen  work,  full  of  human 
sympathy,  love  of  fair  play,  public  spirit,  and  loyalty 
to  the  highest  ideals  of  American  liberty.  There  is  no 
nobler  ambition  to  fire  the  heart  of  generous  youth 

254 


EPILOGUE 

than  that  of  helping  to  carry  American  journalism  as 
far  forward  in  the  next  generation  as  it  has  been  car- 
ried in  the  last. 

WORKS  CONSULTED 

Journalism  in  the  United  States  from  1690  to  1872,  by 
Frederick  Hudson.  Harper  &  Bros.,  1873. 

The  Success  Library,  vol.  ix,  edited  by  Orison  Swett 
Harden.  The  Success  Company,  New  York. 

The  Art  of  Newspaper  Making,  by  Charles  A.  Dana. 
D.  Appleton  and  Company. 

Reporting  for  the  Newspapers,  by  Charles  Hemstreet. 
A.  Wessels  &  Co.,  New  York. 

Establishing  a  Newspaper,  by  O.  F.  Byxbee.  Inland 
Printer  Company,  Chicago. 

Writing  for  the  Press,  by  Robert  Luce.  Writer  Pub- 
lishing Company,  Boston. 

Making  a  Country  Newspaper,  by  A.  J.  Munson.  Do- 
minion Company,  Chicago. 

The  London  Daily  Press,  by  H.  W.  Massingham. 
Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  Chicago. 

Life  of  Horace  Greeley,  by  William  A.  Linn.  D.  Apple- 
ton  and  Company,  New  York. 

Twelfth  Census  Report  on  Printing  and  Publishing  in 
the  United  States,  by  William  S.  Rbssiter.  Census  Office, 
Washington. 

The  American  and  English  Encyclopedia  of  Law. 

Newspaper  Libel,  by  Samuel  Merrill. 

A  Treatise  upon  the  Law  of  Copyright,  by  E.  J.  Mac- 
Gillivray.  E.  P.  Dutton  &  Co.,  New  York. 

All  available  magazine  articles  on  journalism  printed 
in  the  last  decade. 


255 


INDEX 


Abbreviations,  how  to  mark,  67. 

Ade,  George,  107. 

Advertisements,  writing,  184-190; 
secrets  of  success  in,  185,  194  ; 
object  to  be  aimed  at,  188  ;  a 
desirable  profession,  190;  how 
to  secure  ads,  191-202;  rates, 
195  ;  the  "  feature  "  plan,  195  ; 
best  type  to  use  in,  197  ;  exag- 
geration in,  198, 199  ;  classified 
ads,  200 ;  illustrations  in  ads, 
20 1 ;  total  spent  in  advertising, 
202  ;  country  editor  should  be 
ad  writer,  207,  216  ;  danger  of 
libel  in  ads,  240. 

"  Ad  "  writer,  qualities  required 
in,  185;  aim  of,  187;  imperson- 
ality of,  188  ;  pay  of,  185,  189 ; 
place  for,  on  smaller  dailies, 
192. 

Allen,  James  Lane,  157. 

Apology,  value  of,  in  case  of  libel, 
225,  243. 

Arrests,  reporting,  227,  236. 

Art,  criticism  of,  legal  limits,  237. 

Artist,  work  of,  139-146 ;  getting 
a  start,  140,  143  ;  salary,  143 ; 
becoming  a  cartoonist,  143 ; 


prevalence  of  half-tones,  145; 
good  demand  for  skilled  artists, 
146. 

Assignment  book,  how  kept,  22, 
55  ;  on  country  papers,  214. 

Associated  Press,  origin  of,  73  ; 
evolution  of,  74 ;  extent  of,  75 ; 
method  of  operation,  75  ;  ex- 
tent of  business,  76 ;  affiliations 
with  foreign  associations,  77 ; 
freedom  from  bias,  77 ;  who  its 
agents  are,  78 ;  pay,  83 ;  in- 
structions to  agents,  84. 

B 

Bennett,  James  Gordon,  7,  8,  10. 

Berkeley,  Sir  William,  4. 

Blowitz,  de,  102, 152. 

Bly,  Nellie,  152. 

Bok,  Edward  W.,  on  women  in 
journalism,  151. 

Book  reviewer,  function  of,  96 ; 
what  a  review  should  contain, 
96 ;  best  methods,  97 ;  how  posi- 
tion may  be  obtained,  97 ;  ex- 
tent of  quotation  allowable, 
250  ;  legal  restrictions,  237. 

Books,  best  for  preparation,  114. 

Boston,  first  paper  in,  4. 


257 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 


Bribe,  how  to  treat  offer  of,  37. 

Bribery,  charge  of,  libelous,  227. 

Brown,  Carl,  typical  reporter,  32 
et  seq. ;  his  first  work  on  a  Kan- 
sas paper,  32 ;  learning  to  judge 
news,  33 ;  writing  space  stories, 
34  ;  doing  the  railroads,  34 ; 
on  the  court  beat,  36  ;  tempted 
by  a  bribe  ;  doing  politics,  39  ; 
working  as  correspondent,  39 ; 
on  a  Wichita  paper,  40  ;  run- 
ning a  news  bureau,  40 ;  on  a 
Chicago  paper,  41,  45  ;  lesson 
in  interviewing,  47  ;  on  a  New 
York  paper,  50 ;  dictating  a 
rushed  story  ;  successful  work 
on  a  big  assignment,  51. 

Brownell,  William  C.,  172. 

Bryant,  William  Cullen,  on  wrong 
use  of  words,  173. 

Bulletin,  use  of,  83. 

Business  departments,  23. 


Cable,  extensive  use  of,  14. 

California,  statute  on  libels,  242. 

Campbell,  John,  4. 

Capital  letters,  how  to  mark, 
69. 

Carlyle,  remark  of,  3. 

Cartoons,  making,  143. 

Chicago,  cable  toll  to,  14. 

Chicago,  salaries  in,  27  ;  reporting 
in,  41 ;  correspondence  from, 
102  ;  advertising  methods  in, 
194,  195,  197  ;  editing  a  paper 
in  suburbs  of,  205. 

Circulation,  recent  increase  in,  5, 
9 ;  total  in  United  States,  5,  24 ; 


early  scope  of,  10  ;  limits  of,  on 
country  paper,  215. 

City  editor,  functions  of,  1 8  ;  pow- 
ers of,  46. 

Cockerill,  John  A.,  anecdote  of, 
27. 

Column,  words  in  a,  47. 

Commercial  reporting,  100. 

Compositors,  19. 

Conciseness,  how  to  learn,  115. 

Condensation,  value  of,  170. 

Congress,  Librarian  of,  246. 

Contempt  of  court,  234. 

Convention,  reporting  a,  15. 

Cooper,  James  Fenimore,  in  libel 
suits,  237. 

Copy,  how  to  prepare,  63  ;  to  be 
written  on  one  side  of  paper,  63  ; 
best  size  of  sheet,  64  ;  pen  ver- 
sus pencil,  64 ;  penalties  of 
blind  writing,  64 ;  margins,  65 ; 
folio  numbers,  65  ;  dash,  65  ; 
sheets,  how  to  fold,  65  ;  correc- 
tions allowable,  66 ;  illustra- 
tions, in  copy,  67 ;  abbrevia- 
tions, how  to  mark,  67  ;  period, 
67 ;  paragraphing,  67  ;  caps, 
small  caps,  and  italics,  how  to 
mark,  69  ;  quotation  marks,  70; 
style,  variations  in,  7°  5  use  °f 
"  I  "  and  "  we,"  71  ;  decalogue 
of  rules,  72. 

Copy  reader,  functions  of,  18,  89  ; 
salary,  27  ;  service  to  the  pub- 
lic, 92  ;  rank  and  chances  of 
promotion,  93. 

Copyright,  law  of,  244-252  ;  com- 
mon law  property  right,  244  ; 
statute  right,  245  ;  international 


258 


INDEX 


copyright,  246 ;  requirements 
of  law,  246  ;  copyrighting  a 
newspaper  story,  248 ;  duration 
of  copyright,  248;  infringement, 
249  ;  quotation  allowable,  250  ; 
remedies  for  piracy,  251. 

Correspondence  schools,  42. 

Correspondent,  position  best  to 
begin  on,  31 ;  how  obtained,  39, 
78  ;  example  of  successful  work, 
40 ;  position  in  Washington,  42  ; 
country  correspondence,  43 ; 
value  of  right  methods,  63 ; 
need  of  a  query,  79 ;  what  not 
to  send,  80 ;  what  to  send,  81 ; 
usual  pay,  84 ;  how  to  send 
query  or  bulletin,  84,  85 ;  how 
to  begin  a  story,  85  ;  work  in 
Washington  and  other  centers, 
102  ;  women  as  correspondents, 
154;  work  on  country  papers, 
208,  212  ;  instructions  to  coun- 
try correspondents,  209. 

Cost  of  running  a  large  daily,  24. 

Country  paper,  editing  a,  203- 
223 ;  number  of  weeklies  in 
United  States,  203 ;  changes 
in,  204  ;  best  location  for,  206  ; 
editor  should  be  an  all-around 
man,  207  ;  importance  of  local 
news,  207 ;  methods  of  news- 
gathering,  208,  209  ;  editing 
correspondents'  work,  213  ;  as- 
signment book,  214 ;  subscri- 
bers and  circulation,  215  ;  start- 
ing a  daily,  217  ;  avoiding  vio- 
lent partizanship  and  feuds,  221. 

Court  news,  incident  in  report- 
ing, 36. 


Crawford,  Mrs.  Emily,  152. 
Criticism,  legal  limits  of,  237. 
Curtis,    George     William,    169; 

William  EM  102. 
Cuts,  how  to  mark  in  copy,  67. 


Daily  papers,  number  in  United 
States,  27  ;  starting  a  daily, 
217. 

Damages  in  libel  suits,  240 ;  pu- 
nitive, 225,  243. 

Dana,  Charles  A.,  on  editorial 
writer,  95  ;  on  exchange  ed- 
itor, 98  ;  on  reporter's  qualifi- 
cations, no,  in,  113,  114. 

Dash,  at  end  of  story,  65. 

Decalogue,  the  reporter's,  72. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  6. 

Department  editors,  89-104. 

Desk  work,  first  step  in,  90; 
lines  of  promotion,  93. 

Dickens,  Charles,  15. 

Dictation,  useful  in  emergencies, 
50,  118. 

Dodge,  Mary  Mapes,  156. 

Dooley,  Mr.,  107. 

Drama,  criticism  of,  legal  limits, 

237. 

Dramatic  editor,  function  of,  96  ; 
how  position  may  be  obtained, 

E 
Editor,  country,  qualifications  of, 

207,   219,    221  ;    opportunities 

of,  206,  222 ;  going  to  a  large 

city,  222. 
Editor-in-chief,  function   of,  17; 

as  editorial  writer,  93. 


259 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 


Editorial  article,  typical  forms  of, 
94,95;  use  of  "we,"  71. 

Editorial  writer,  salary  of,  27 ; 
rank  and  pay  of,  93  ;  how  his 
work  is  done,  93 ;  require- 
ments of  his  position,  94; 
should  be  a  specialist,  95 ; 
needs  long  memory,  no. 

Editors,  methods  of,  89-104 ;  or- 
ganization of  staff,  17,  1 8. 

Education,  collegiate,  no;  Da- 
na's views  on,  in  ;  Greeley's 
idea,  in;  does  not  always  lead 
to  highest  positions,  112  ;  high- 
school  course  desirable,  113  ; 
points  on  private  reading,  1 14. 

Employees,  number  and  pay  of, 
24. 

Employment,  how  to  obtain,  78. 

Epilogue,  253. 

Errors,  chapter  on,  164-183  ; 
spelling,  164  ;  punctuation,  165  ; 
pronouns,  168  ;  shall  and  will, 
169 ;  metaphors,  169  ;  redun- 
dant words,  170  ;  errors  of  fact, 
170  ;  wrong  use  of  words,  171  ; 
Mr.  Bryant's  Index  Expurga- 
torius,  173  ;  "don'ts"  of  New 
York  Press,  175  ;  Chicago 
Tribune's  instructions  to  re- 
porters, 178  ;  errors  in  country 
papers,  221. 

Etching  department,  145. 

Evening  paper,  work  on,  com- 
pared with  morning  paper,  56, 
61. 

Exchange  editor,  98. 

Experience  the  best  teacher, 
42. 


Fiction  in  newspapers,  133  ;  prices 
paid  for,  134  ;  influence  of  syn- 
dicates on,  135. 

Field,  Kate,  149. 

Financial  reporting,  beginning 
of,  8  ;  present  status  of,  95,  100. 

Fire,  reporting  a,  56. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  how  he 
drilled  himself,  116. 

Frederick  the  Great,  16. 


Gilder,  Jeannette  L.,  97. 
Greeley,  Horace,  methods  of,  8, 

9  ;  views  on  college  education, 

in. 

Green,  Bartholomew,  4. 
Gutenberg,  9. 

H 

Harland,  Marian,  152,  156. 
Harris,  Benjamin,  first  American 

editor,  4. 

Haseltine,  Mayo  W.,  97. 
Head-lines,  the   writing  of,  91  ; 

when  first  used,  92  ;    value  of 

correct  methods,  92. 
Herald,  New  York,  founding  of, 

7 ;     pioneer    in    interviewing, 

47  ;  victim  of -libel  suit,  240. 
Hoe,  Richard  M.,  n. 
Howells,  William  Dean,  169. 
Humor,  always  salable,  136. 


Illustrations,  first  use  of,  8  ;  the 
making  of,  139-146. 


260 


INDEX 


Imagination,  journalistic,  use  of, 
104. 

Infringement  of  copyright,  249  ; 
remedies,  251. 

Insecurity  of  employment,  25. 

Insurance  editor,  100. 

Interviewing,  anecdote  of,  47 ; 
origin  of,  47  ;  rules  for  success 
in,  48  ;  how  to  write  an  inter- 
view, 50. 

Invention,  progress  of,  8  ;  revolu- 
tions caused  by,  10. 

Italics,  how  to  mark,  69. 

j 

Jefferson,   Thomas,  on   value  of 

press,  i. 
Jokes,   steady   market   for,    136 ; 

prices  paid,  136. 
Jordan,  Elizabeth  G.,  152. 
Journalism,  yellow,  8,  17  ;  birth 

of  modern,  2  ;  beginnings  of,  3  ; 

young    man's    profession,    25; 

glamour  of,  28  ;   as  avenue  to 

literature,   155  ;    an  honorable 

career,  254. 
June,  Jennie,  152. 


Kipling,  Rudyard,  172. 


Lang,  Andrew,  169. 

Letters  to  editor,  to  be  brief,  66. 

Libel,  law  of,  224-243  ;  definition 
of,  224,  230  ;  instances  of,  226, 
229  ;  valid  defense  of,  227,  238; 
privileged  publications,  230, 
233,  238  ;  use  of  "  alleged  "  and 


similar  terms,  232  ;  court  news, 
233,  235  ;  contempt  of  court, 
234  ;  arrests  as  news,  227,  236  ; 
limits  of  criticism,  237 ;  seditious 
libel,  238  ;  persons  responsible, 
238,  241,  242 ;  Townshend's 
dictum,  239;  damages,  240; 
danger  of  libel  in  ads,  240  ; 
maximum  penalty,  241 ;  crim- 
inal versus  civil  action,  225, 
241 ;  cost  of  defending  suit, 
242  ;  statute  of  limitation,  242  ; 
punitive  damages,  225,  243  ; 
avoidance  of  libelous  matter, 

243. 

Lightning  press,  8,  u. 
Linotype  machine,  12,  13. 
London,  cable  toll  to,  14. 

M 

Managing  editor,  functions  of, 
17  ;  not  usually  a  college  man, 
112. 

Manuscripts,  rules  for  preparing, 

63. 

Margins,  need  of  liberal,  65. 

Mechanical  departments,  23. 

Memory,  need  of  good,  109. 

Mergenthaler,  Ottmar,  12. 

Metaphors,  mixed,  169. 

Morgue,  uses  of,  103. 

Morning  paper,  work  on,  com- 
pared with  evening  paper,  56, 
61. 

Morse's  telegraph,  n. 

Munson,  A.  J.,  on  country  pa- 
pers, 208. 

Musical  critic,  97  ;  legal  limits  of 
criticism,  237. 


26l 


PRACTICAL   JOURNALISM 


N 

Names,  avoiding  errors  in,  64; 
how  to  write  list  of,  179,  180. 

New  Orleans,  pony  express  from,  7. 

News,  how  gathered,  73-88 ;  what 
is  not  news,  80  ;  news  that  is 
wanted,  81. 

News  editor,  18. 

News-gathering,  early  slackness 
in,  7  ;  reduced  to  a  system,  54  ; 
neighborhood  news  good  to 
begin  on,  31. 

News  Letter,  Boston,  4. 

Newspapers,  nature  of  early  is- 
sues, 6  ;  increase  in  number  of, 
4  ;  country  papers,  203  ;  a  mir- 
ror of  nation's  life,  254. 

News  story,  how  to  write  a,  59 ; 
questions  to  be  covered,  60 ; 
essentials  to  look  out  for,  61 ; 
example  of,  61  ;  reasons  for 
method  used,  61,  62;  same  ap- 
plied to  telegraphic  news,  85. 

New  York,  first  paper  in,  4  ;  sala- 
ries in,  26  ;  reporting  in,  42  ; 
correspondence  from,  102. 

Night  city  editor,  functions  of, 
20. 

Night  editor,  functions  of,  20 ; 
his  difficulties,  22. 


Pages,  how  to  number,  65. 
Paper,  reduced  cost  of,  13. 
Paragraphing,  67. 
Parentheses,  use  of,  71. 
Peattie,  Elia  W.,  156. 
Period,  how  to  make,  67. 
Perfecting  press,  12. 


Philadelphia,  first  paper  in,  4. 

Photographs,  as  aid  in  selling 
special  story,  129  ;  demand  for, 
146. 

Poetry,  in  small  demand,  135. 

Political  reporting,  39. 

Politics,  country  editor's  chances 
in,  206 ;  dangers  of  violent 
partizanship,  220. 

Population,  in  proportion  to  news- 
papers, 5. 

Positions,  rank  and  pay  of,  16-24 ; 
how  secured,  30 ;  local  paper 
the  best  to  begin  on,  31  ;  how 
women  may  find  foothold,  153. 

Press,  American,  compared  with 
foreign,  1 ,253  ;  causes  of  great- 
ness, I  ;  Tocqueville's  view  of, 
3  ;  evolution  of,  1-15  ;  Wash- 
ington hand-press,  10 ;  cylinder 
press,  10  ;  Hoe  presses,  n,  12  ; 
multiple  press,  II,  12 ;  web 
press,  12. 

Press,  New  York,  on  errors  to 
avoid,  175. 

Printing  presses,  first  introduc- 
tion of,  3  ;  primitive  models,  6, 
10. 

Progress,  mechanical,  9. 

Promotion,  natural  course  of,  43. 

Promptness,  value  of,  85. 

Pronouns,  careless  use  of,  168. 

Publications,  privileged,  230. 

Public  men,  criticism  of,  231 
238. 

Publick  Occurrences,  when  is- 
sued, 4. 

Publisher,  responsibilities  of,  16, 
17,  23. 


262 


INDEX 


Punctuation,  need  of  correct,  165 ; 
uses  of  various  marks,  166. 


Qualifications  for  journalism,  105- 
119;  alertness,  106  ;  executive 
ability,  107 ;  knowledge  of  hu- 
man nature,  108 ;  need  of  good 
memory,  109  ;  college  educa- 
tion, no;  private  reading,  114; 
methods  of  self-drill,  115;  short- 
hand, 116;  typewriting,  117; 
summary  of  desirable  qualities, 
119. 

Query,  use  of,  79  ;  example  of,  85. 

Quotation  marks,  special  use  of, 
70 ;  how  to  use,  167. 


Railroads,  influence  on  press,  5  ; 
railroad  reporter's  work,  34 ; 
railroad  editor,  100,  101. 

Rayne,  Mrs.  M.  L.,  156. 

Real-estate  editor,  100,  101. 

Reporter,  work  of,  19,  22  ;  pay 
of,  27,  219  ;  education  of,  30- 
44 ;  at  work,  45-58  ;  beginning 
as  a,  45  ;  learning  art  of  inter- 
viewing, 47  ;  doing  a  big  as- 
signment, 51  ;  doing  ordinary 
assignments,  54  ;  working  un- 
der pressure,  45,  56  ;  covering 
a  fire,  56  ;  effect  of  the  training, 
56,  57  ;  best  style  to  cultivate, 
58  ;  how  to  begin  a  news  story, 
59 ;  value  of  right  methods, 
63 ;  reporter?  anonymity  of, 
132  ;  as  an  ad  writer,  189 ;  re- 
sponsibility of,  for  libel,  240. 


Reporting,    directions    for,   209; 

salaries  for,  in  country  towns, 

218. 
Retraction,  value  of,  in  case  of 

libel,  225,  243. 
Run-in  mark,  68. 


Salaries,  comparative  view  of,  25  > 
rate  of  increase,  25  ;  average  in 
various  cities,  26,  27  ;  gradually 
rising,  29 ;  on  country  papers, 
219. 

Shorthand,  not  essential,  116. 

Slavery  question,  influence  of,  8. 

Smalley,  Geo.  W.,  102,  124. 

Smith,  Gerrit,  47. 

Space  stories,  how  to  write,  34, 
39,  43  ;  how  paid  for,  44. 

Specialism,  desirability  of,  25. 

Special  stories,  learning  to  write, 
43  ;  nature  of,  121 ;  rates  paid 
for,  121 ;  legitimate  opening  for 
beginners,  122,  125  ;  different 
kinds,  122  ;  timeliness  the  es- 
sence of  value,  123  ;  methods 
of  securing  assignments,  125 ; 
sending  stories  by  mail,  126 ; 
difficulties  to  be  met,  127 ; 
good  subjects,  128 ;  usual 
length,  129  ;  value  of  photo- 
graphs, 129 ;  widely  known 
names  desired,  130;  writer 
usually  anonymous,  132  ;  occa- 
sional correspondence,  133 ; 
special  articles  by  women,  153  • 
subjects  suggested,  211,  214. 

Spelling,  need  of  correct,  164. 

Sporting  editor,  99. 


263 


PRACTICAL  JOURNALISM 


Stead,  William  T.,  on  women  as 
reporters,  161. 

Stereotyping  process,  n. 

Stet,  meaning  and  use  of,  69. 

Stickful,  size  of,  47. 

Story,  telegraphic,  how  to  begin, 
85,  86  ;  how  to  end,  86 ;  how 
paid  for,  87  ;  advice  on  wri- 
ting, 87. 

Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher,  21. 

Style,  best  for  news  purposes,  58, 
59  ;  printer's  style,  70  ;  acquire- 
ment of  good  style,  116,  137. 

Subscriptions,  increase  in,  5,  9  ; 
how  to  secure,  on  country  pa- 
pers, 215. 

Sullivan,  Margaret,  149. 

Sumter  as  landmark  of  journal- 
ism, 2,  3. 

Sunday  editor,  work  of,  120  ;  mat- 
ter sought  by,  124,  128,  129  ; 
sending  manuscripts  to,  126  ; 
his  use  of  fiction,  133  ;  of  jokes 
and  poetry,  135. 

Sunday  supplement,  120-138  ; 
cause  for  its  size,  120 ;  nature 
of  contents,  121,  124  ;  influence 
on  country  weekly,  204. 

Suppression  of  news,  35,  36. 

Syndicates,  newspaper,  defined, 
135  ;  influence  of,  135. 


Tarbell,  Ida  M.,  quoted,  155. 

Telegraph,  first  use  of,  8,  n  ;  ex- 
tent of  present  use,  14 ;  use  in 
reporting  a  convention,  15  ;  tele- 
graph editor,  18. 

Telegraphic  correspondent,  how 


to  act  as,  79  ;  what  not  to  send, 
80;  what  to  send,  81  ;  usual 
pay,  84,  87  ;  how  to  send  query, 
85  ;  how  to  begin  a  story,  85. 

Times,  Philadelphia,  on  libels, 
242. 

Tips,  how  secured,  54. 

Tocqueville  on  American  press,  3. 

Townshend,    dictum     on    libel, 

239- 

Trade  papers,  100. 

Translations,  copyright  of,  246. 

Travels,  not  in  demand,  130. 

Tribune,  Chicago,  instructions  to 
reporters,  178  ;  New  York,  9, 
14. 

Twain,  Mark,  on  book  review- 
ing, 0,6. 

Type,  advertising  faces,  197,  217; 
best  body  faces,  216. 

Typesetting  machine,  12. 

Typewriter,  use  of,  64,  65,  117. 


Vituperation  in  journalism,  7,  8, 

220. 

W 

Wanamaker,  John,  as  an  adver- 
tiser, 184,  198. 

War,  Revolutionary,  6  ;  Mexican, 
7 ;  civil,  2,  9 ;  Franco-Prus- 
sian, 14. 

Washington,  correspondence  from, 
102. 

Washington  hand-press,  10. 

Watterson,  Henry,  on  bases  of 
success,  107 ;  on  metropolitan 
journalism,  222. 

Web  press,  12. 


264 


INDEX 


Weekly,  country,  203-223. 

Wendell,  Barrett,  quoted,  116. 

White,  Richard  Grant,  173. 

Wilcox,  Ella  Wheeler,  152. 

Women  in  journalism,  147-163  ; 
as  book  reviewers,  97  ;  on  sen- 
sational journals,  149  ;  on  con- 
servative papers,  150 ;  exam- 
ples of,  152 ;  how  to  secure 
places,  153 ;  becoming  a  cor- 
respondent, 154 ;  best  open- 


ings on  Sunday  paper,  155 ; 
working  up  as  contributor,  157  ; 
little  chance  for  reformers,  158  ; 
testimony  of  New  York  news- 
paper woman,  159  ;  Mr.  Stead's 
views,  161  ;  years  of  training 
necessary,  163  ;  women  as  ad 
writers,  189. 

Wood  pulp,  use  of,  13. 

Words,  use  of,  71  ;  liable  to  mis- 
use, 173,  175,  178. 


THE   END 


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